J LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.* 

* 



{ UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. ? 







*P #5v 







GEOKGE PAULL, 



OF 



BENITA, WEST AFRICA. 



A MEMOIR. 



BY THE 

Eev. SAMUEL WILSON, D.D. 



I .72 > 






PHILADELPHIA: 
PEESBYTEEIAN BOAED OF PUBLICATION, 

No. 1334 Chestnut Street. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 

THE TRUSTEES OF THE 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at "Washington. 



"Westcott & Thomson, 
Stereotypers and Electrotypers, Ph ilada. 




GABOON AND CORISCO. 



P . 3. 



PREFACE. 



Those who would know something of Africa, and 
of the life, labors and privations of our devoted mis- 
sionaries in that dark land, will, we trust, find a deep 
interest in perusing this memoir of one whom God 
has greatly honored, but early called to his rest and 
reward. As his heart burned with the love of the 
gospel and the cause of Christian missions, though 
dead, he may yet speak to those who are the hope of 
the Church to fulfill her mission to a perishing world. 
The volume has been prepared mainly for the young, 
and our earnest prayer is that God's blessing may rest 
on all who read it. It consists chiefly of Mr. Paull's 
letters, written to relatives and intimate friends with 
the usual freedom and familiarity of correspondence, 
and without the remotest idea of their publication. 



GEORGE PAULL. 



George Paull was the second son of Joseph 
and Eliza Lea Paul], and was born near Connells- 
ville, a beautiful and romantic village on the banks 
of the Youghiogheny River, in Fayette County, Pa., 
Feb. 3, 1837. His boyhood, like that of many 
of Pennsylvania's noblest sons, was spent on his 
father's farm. His early education was largely in 
the common and Sabbath-schools, but especially 
around the domestic altar, from which the incense 
of the morning and evening sacrifice ascended — 
the place where young hearts are prepared for 
Christian and missionary work. 

Full of youthful ardor and enterprise, with his 
elder brother and other companions George often 
sported on the rugged banks of Dunbar Creek, 
and the craggy steeps of the Laurel Mountain, 
adjacent to his lovely home. Here he drank 
health from the mountain breezes, and vigorous 
thoughts and imaginations from the bold scenery 



6 GEORGE PAULL. 

which on every hand greeted his eye. While his 
young life was thus being developed into manhood, 
God was preparing him, by faithful teachings and 
fervent prayers, for a higher life of spiritual conse- 
cration. 

Children are God's heritage, and he calls and 
qualifies them for his service. For this he puts 
into operation fitting instrumentalities. Chief 
among these are the family altar, the Sabbath- 
school and the church. To all these George 
evinced an early and strong attachment. lie was 
an earnest pupil in the Sabbath-school and Bible- 
class, often taking the prize for good conduct and 
successful recitations. Being of a modest and gen- 
erous disposition, these honors were cheerfully ac- 
corded to him by all. In church he was always 
an attentive and profited hearer of the word of 
life. Thus he grew in knowledge as in stature. 

He commenced classical and mathematical studies 
under the Bev. B. Stevenson, pastor of the Presby- 
terian church at Connellsville, continued them in 
Dunlap's Creek Fresbyterian Academy, and after- 
wards under Prof. John Frazer, from Cromarty, 
Scotland, the successful wrangler for the Hutton- 
ian prize in the University of St. Andrews — for a 
time president of the Boyal College in the Bermu- 










Early Home. 



p. 7. 



GEORGE PAULL. 7 

das, and afterwards professor of mathematics in 
Jefferson College, Pa. — a teacher of high qualifica- 
tions. With such preparatory training, young 
Paull, with his older brother, A. Torrence Paull, 
entered Jefferson College at Canonsburg, where 
he graduated with high credit in the class of 1858, 
in the twenty-first year of his age. 

Though he frequently had seasons of deep con- 
cern about his spiritual state and prospects, it was 
not till the spring of 1858, during a revival of 
religion in the college, that he obtained a hope in 
Christ and made a public profession of religion, 
which he did in the church at Connellsville, of 
which his father is a ruling elder. 

After leaving college, Mr. Paull went to Missis- 
sippi and taught for a short time. But realizing 
his call of God to preach Christ, he returned and 
entered the Western Theological Seminary at Alle- 
gheny, Pa., where he spent three years diligently 
preparing for his great life w T ork of preaching 
Christ to the heathen. The love of Christ, and a 
burning desire to save those sitting in utter dark- 
ness, fired his heart and inspired his daily medi- 
tations and prayers for divine direction. In April, 
1861, at the outbreak of our terrible civil war, he 
was, by the Presbytery of Redstone, licensed to 



8 GEORGE PAULL. 

preach the gospel of grace and good will to men. 
In April, 1862, he completed his course in the 
seminary. 

Fully realizing his call of God to the missionary 
work in the foreign field, he offered his name to 
the General Assembly's Board of Foreign Missions 
for the work in Africa, and was accepted. But on 
account of the embarrassed condition of the Board, 
arising from the civil war, he could not be sent on 
his mission immediately. For a time he supplied 
Tyrone and Sewickley churches, then without a 
pastor, where he is affectionately remembered as 
the devout and earnest preacher whose sole aim 
was to bring sinners to Christ. At the suggestion 
of the author, he went to the West and found a 
vacant, scattered church at Morrison, Illinois, in 
the Presbytery of Bock River, to which he minis- 
tered with great popularity and success. From 
their earnest entreaties to become their pastor, he 
found it difficult to tear himself away to obey the 
call of God to preach the gospel to poor benighted 
Africa. When his devoted friends at Morrison 
gathered around him, and besought him with tears 
to abide with them in the pastoral work, his spirit 
was sorely tried. But his sense of duty to Christ 
and the perishing heathen prevailed. He was or- 



GEORGE PAULL. V 

dained an evangelist for the missionary work, by 
the Presbytery of Redstone, in October, 1863. 

Mr. Paull was regarded by all who knew him 
as a Christian and minister of rare piety and prom- 
ise. As a son, he was affectionately devoted to his 
parents, who early dedicated him to God in Chris- 
tian baptism, and prayerfully nurtured him in the 
doctrines and duties of religion. As a friend, he 
was remarkably ingenuous and constant. As a 
student, he was conscientious, diligent and suc- 
cessful, beloved and admired by his companions 
and teachers. His scholarship was highly respect- 
able; his understanding was comprehensive; his 
imagination fertile and chaste ; his memory good, 
and his taste refined. His reading and observation 
were not so extensive as they were judicious and 
profitable, of the kind best adapted to qualify him 
for his cherished work of preaching " Christ and 
him crucified." 

His piety was peculiarly simple and artless, 
deep, earnest and practical. It was of that lovely 
type which distinguished the beloved disciple. 
His large heart was an utter stranger to the spirit 
of selfishness and censoriousness, and his lips to 
the speech of unkindness ; but both were familiar 
with thoughts and expressions of goodness. Emp- 



10 GEORGE PAULL. 

tied of self, he clung to Christ and his righteous- 
ness with most affectionate devotion. He felt 
bound, in covenant fidelity, by earnest prayer and 
self-examination to find daily experience in his 
inner life that would attest the gracious indwelling 
of the Holy Spirit; hence, he would call himself 
to account before God, and confess his sins and 
shortcomings in duty with deep humiliation of 
spirit. This is seen in his letters and diary of 
missionary labors and spiritual life in Africa. 
Active and laborious beyond his physical strength, 
full of holy zeal and charity, he was ever elab- 
orating schemes of usefulness. The burden of 
the Lord on his heart continually was, that he 
and others might be fully awake to their high 
responsibility in working, praying and giving for 
Christ and the salvation of the perishing in all 
lands. Few men of his age have evinced such 
weanedness from the world and devotion to Christ, 
such wakeful, tireless sympathy with all efforts 
to sow the seeds of salvation beside all waters, 
even to the remotest parts of the pagan world. 

As a preacher, Mr. Paull was, in the best sense, 
eminently popular. His preaching was scriptural, 
pungent, tender, earnest, practical and faithful. 
His aim was not the mere entertainment of his 



GEORGE PAULL. 11 

hearers, but their conversion and sanctification 
through the truth, which he pressed, like the 
sainted McCheyne, in such winning and cogent 
strains that young and old would congregate in 
crowds to hear him. 

Of a portly and commanding presence, with a 
deep, full and wonderfully sweet and persuasive 
voice, fervent and eloquent in sentiment, logical 
and forcible in argument, natural and striking in 
his illustrations, and withal filled with love to 
Christ and the souls of men, he never failed to 
stamp his burning thoughts on the hearts of his 
audience and win souls to Jesus. Who that heard 
his sermons on Christian missions can ever forget 
their ardent spirit and melting power as he pleaded 
for the cause of Christ among the heathen ? He 
seemed to verify that tender of personal agency, 
"Here am I, send me." Although his popular 
talents and manners seemed to mark out for him a 
ministerial career in some large city church, yet his 
self-denying spirit and zeal for the salvation of the 
destitute determined him to one of the humblest 
and most perilous of all the fields of missionary 
work — a missionary to Africa. Now that his work 
is quickly done, and the Master has called him to 
the unfading crown, the Church might well in- 



12 GEORGE PAULL. 

scribe on the beautiful marble monument erected 
to his memory by parental affection in the cemetery 
at Corisco, as her estimate of his character, " By 
the grace of God, a bright example of devotion to 
the missionary work." This noble standard-bearer 
having fallen, the Church looks earnestly to see 
his likeness reproduced in some of her sons, who 
shall seize and bear the banner onward to final 
victory in reclaiming Africa for Christ. But let 
us permit him to speak for himself, and in his 
familiar letters and the brief notes of his diary 
tell the story of his missionary life. 

On his arrival at Xew York, on his way to 
Africa, Mr. Paull wrote to his parents : 

Xew York, Nov. 27, 1S63. 
" To-night I am in Astoria, at the house of Dr. 
Lowrie. I arrived to-day at noon, went to the 
mission-house, met Mr. Rankin and Dr. Lowrie, 
also Mr. and Mrs. Clark, missionaries to Africa. 
Secured a passage in the steamer 'City of London ' 
for Liverpool. The vessel sails to-morrow at noon, 
and I leave America perhaps for many a day; 
but there is no sadness in it to me, for I look 
beyond, I hope. Instead of sailing from Liver- 
pool, I am to sail from Glasgow, Scotland, as that 
is the port to which the vessel belongs. So after 



GEORGE PAULL. 13 

sailing to Liverpool, I go to Glasgow, and it is 
possible I may have to be there for a considerable 
time. The steamer on which I go to Liverpool is 
one of the very best, so that you need have no 
uneasiness on that score. I do not think you can 
hear from me again until I reach Liverpool, when 
I hope to write to you at some length. Good-bye 
till then, and may the blessing of our heavenly 
Father rest on you all." 

Again, he writes to them from on board of the 
steamer " City of London " : 

"Dec. 7, 1863. 

"Many a league from shore to-day, we are 
steaming on the broad Atlantic, but by noon on 
to-morrow, if Providence favor, we hope to reach 
the harbor of Cork, Ireland, and thence about a 
day will bring us to Liverpool. Our voyage thus 
far has been most prosperous, speedy and pleasant 
— fair winds and favoring tides all the way. On 
account of the heavy fog on Saturday, 28th, we did 
not get out of New York harbor until Sabbath 
morning; we left the wharf at 7 A. M., and sailed 
down the channel, with Staten Island on our right 
and Long Island on our left. Passing the three or 
four bristling forts for the defence of the harbor, 
and the ' lightship/ as it is called — a ship that 



14 GEORGE PAULL. 

always stands anchored in the bay, and is lit up 
at night as a landmark to the proper channel — 
and, passing out of Sandy Hook, we dropped our 
pilot and soon were out of sight of land. The 
passengers (about thirty-five or forty) nearly all 
gathered on deck, for the sake of the fresh air, and 
there with busy tread they passed to and fro, in 
hopes of driving away all symptoms of the dreaded 
sea-sickness, but it was a useless expedient; sea- 
sickness would come; and ere long one of our 
gentlemen, a State Senator from Xew Jersey, grew 
suddenly pale, and hurried off to the railing at the 
stern of the vessel, and we saw but little more of 
him for several days. Many more of my fellow- 
passengers, from time to time, slipped off more 
quietly to their state-rooms, there to roll about in 
misery for almost half the voyage. All of the 
passengers are about now and able to appear at 
table, but some of them look pale and a little thin. 
You are anxious to know, I suppose, how I came 
through this general epidemic. Unexpectedly to 
myself (but I can scarcely say that, for I did not 
really expect to be much sick), I had but little of 
it. I felt a little nausea for a few days, and once 
or twice ivas relieved of my sujjper, but generally 
I had a good appetite and was in my seat at 



GEORGE PAULL. 15 

the table, and now I am as comfortable as the land 
could make me. 

" This is the ninth day out from New York. The 
weather, generally, since we started has been quite 
pleasant, one or two days very bright and sunny. 
We have no variety of scenery here ; every day, in 
respect to that, is alike : a large circular basin of 
dashing waves, expanding far as the eye can reach 
and meeting the horizon, is the scenery for one 
day and for all. The waves do not seem very 
high, from the deck of the vessel, but they are 
rolling and dashing against each other, sometimes, 
too, breaking clear over the bulwarks of the vessel. 
We have not seen a vessel since we left New York, 
nor anything that has life, save the sea-gulls, that 
constantly follow in our wake in large numbers, 
picking up the crumbs and waste that are thrown 
overboard. They are a beautiful bird as they 
skim around and over the deck of the vessel. 
They are about the size of pigeons, white, all ex- 
cept their backs and the tops of their wings* Some- 
times at night the waters present a beautiful sight, 
as the vessel ploughs through them and rolls them 
back all sparkling and bright as though filled with 
electric sparks. 

" I have been very fortunate in getting a good 



16 GEORGE PAULL. 

steamer for crossing the ocean; everything about it 
is in superb order. It is the newest of the Phila- 
delphia, New York and Liverpool line, which runs 
regularly and carries the mail between New York 
and Liverpool. It is an iron-plated steamer, most 
substantially built at the cost of half a million of 
dollars. Officers and stewards are very gentle- 
manly and polite, all of them Englishmen. I 
could give you no idea of the appearance of an 
ocean steamer, unless it be that it looks like an 
immense black boat with a deck rising up inside 
of it a few feet higher than its side-, and on top 
of this are the three masts and sails. Under the 
deck is the cabin, about one hundred feet long and 
forty wide; in it the passengers sit and take their 
meals. The next story below the cabin is filled up 
with state-rooms, all fitted up most comfortably. 
I have one to myself. Under the state-room 
the hold, which is used for freight, etc. 

" Life on board the vessel is very dull and lazy. 
Most of the passengers lounge around on the 
cushioned seats that run all around the cabin, 
reading or talking or dozing, feeling too unsettled 
both in stomach and mind to undertake anything 
that would require much energy. We have break- 
fast every morning at 9 o'clock, lunch at 12 o'clock, 



GEORGE PAULL. 17 

dinner at 4 o'clock, and tea at 6J o'clock. Our 
dinners are generally sumptuous, consisting of four 
or five courses, and requiring about one hour and 
a half to get through them : first course soups — 
ox-tail, clam or mock-turtle ; then meats and fowls 
of all kinds, prepared in almost every way ; then 
cheese and celery; then pastry, pies, puddings, 
tarts, etc.; then fruits, apples, oranges, figs, raisins, 
almonds, English walnuts, etc. This is a pretty 
sumptuous bill of fare, but it will not be long 
until we shall be able to change this style of living 
for something plainer. 

"Our passengers are all pleasant and genteel. 
They are a mixed company of English, Scotch, 
Canadians, French and Americans, Protestants, 
Roman Catholics and infidels, one honorable, two 
or three sea-captains, and the rest I believe are 
private individuals. Among the captains (who are 
all blockade-runners) are two who were taken 
about Wilmington. One commanded the Robert 
Lee, which was captured, and the other the Venus, 
which was burned. Seven or eight of our passen- 
gers are ladies. One lost her husband and her 
only child on this vessel as it came over to New 
York the last time, and now she is going back 
again in it to her home, desolate enough. I like 



18 GEORGE PAULL. 

the young Senator from New Jersey very much. 
Presbyterian proclivities brought us together. His 
father was a Presbyterian minister, and his brother 
is one also, and is now settled in Springfield, Ohio. 
The one with whom I am most intimate is a young 
merchant from New York, who attends Dr. Phil- 
lips' church. Dr. Lowrie introduced me to him 
just as we were going aboard. He has often 
been across the ocean, and I find it an immense 
advantage to have such an acquaintance. lie 
seems to be a verv modest, noble fellow. 

" We had service on board yesterday (Sabbath) — 
Church of England service — in the morning, read 
by the captain, as is the rule of the ship; and I 
preached in the afternoon at 1 o'clock. I had a 
very pleasant little audience, and preached with a 
good deal of satisfaction, though it was difficult to 
keep steadily on my feet, as the vessel rolls all the 
time. Indeed, it is a pretty difficult matter to 
write, and I hope this will excuse the more than 
usual unreadableness of my letter. 

"The apples and cakes which Lizzie deposited 
in my trunk I fetched out a few nights since, and 
found them all very nice, more especially so as 
they had the flavor of home. Everything that 
suggests home is pleasant to the taste or sight. It 



GEORGE PAULL. 19 

was a sore pang to part with all that I hold dear 
on earth, and yet I feel sure that it is of the Lord, 
and I rejoice exceedingly that he has called me 
and given me grace to do even this little for him. 
My days, I think, are now as happy as almost any 
that I have ever spent, in prospect of the work 
that God has called me to do, and that he has con- 
ferred this great favor on me — sending me to the 
heathen to tell the story of Christ and the cross. 
I have no doubt in regard to the fulfillment of 
that promise to those that forsake father and 
mother, etc. I trust that I can now lay claim to 
it, and I am assured that Christ will be to me 
more than all earthly things. 

" There is a gentleness and kindness in Dr. Low- 
rie's manner very attractive. He and his father 
made me a present of four or five books before I 
came away — Walter Lowrie's ' Memoirs and Ser- 
mons/ etc. He and Mr. Rankin, Mr. Waugh, 
and Mr. Beatty of New Brunswick, came down 
with me to the ship to see me off. Mr. Waugh 
promised to drop you a letter to say that I got off 
safely, as you could not hear from me again until 
I arrived at Liverpool. 

" Tuesday, Dec. 8. — This morning, for the first 
time since leaving New York, we saw the land 



20 GEORGE PAULL. 

again, and right glad we all were. Sailing up the 
Irish channel, just to our left lay Old Ireland. Its 
rugged shores looked bleak and barren enough at 
the distance of two or three miles, but when we 
drew nearer they looked better. At Queenstown, 
the harbor of Cork (about twelve o'clock), we 
stopped long enough to send off some of our pas- 
sengers by a tug which steamed up to us. The 
shores looked green and all hedged off into little 
fields. On the hillside we saw a flock of goats 
quietly browsing. The houses seemed a good deal 
lower than ours, apparently built of stone, and 
roofed with thatch. On the other side of us was 
an island on which the Irish keep their convicts. 

" To-day it is gloomy and drizzling, but not cold, 
nor has it been since we left. A good deal of fog 
is still hanging over us as we steam up the Irish 
Channel, and now night has come on ; but by 9 or 
10 o'clock to-morrow we hope to be in Liverpool. 
An old captain on board tells me that this will be 
the quickest trip ever made by a screw steamer. I 
saw a sailor-boy climb to the mast head, one hun- 
dred and fifty feet above deck. They are a merry 
set of fellows. They work their ropes to a song, 
and good music they make of it. I shall not have 
time to write in the morning, so I will close to- 



GEORGE PAULL. 21 

night, and mail my letter from Liverpool to-mor- 
row. I may go to Glasgow by way of London, 
and will of course write to you again from Glasgow. 
A great deal of love to each member of the family, 
and may the richest blessings of our Father in 
heaven rest on you all." 

" London, Dec. 12, 1863. 

" My Dear Sister : As you see, I am in the 
great city to-night, and have already spent two or 
three days here seeing the wonders of England's 
great capital. 

" My last letter I wrote at sea and mailed in 
Liverpool. I hope it reached you in due time. 
When I landed at Liverpool, I found that I had 
several days before the vessel was to sail from Glas- 
gow for Africa, and so I concluded to pay a visit to 
London. My baggage I sent on to Glasgow by a 
clever young Scotchman of Glasgow, with whom I 
became acquainted on board the vessel. 

" We landed safely at Liverpool on Wednesday 
morning, had our baggage examined, but the exam- 
ination really amounted to nothing. Mr. Thorp 
and I footed it from there up to the railway depot 
for London, stopping on the way at the Liverpool 
Exchange, which is said to be much more magnif- 
icent than the great London Exchange. Both of 



22 GEORGE PAULL. 

them are immense, massive stone buildings, sup- 
ported on great columns. Within the courts are 
scores of burly brokers and speculators of every 
description, chattering and chaffering and striking 
bargains. I visited also St. George's Hall, in which 
they hold their courts, etc. It also is built of stone, 
and in magnificence and grandeur, without and 
within, it far surpasses anything I had ever seen 
before. Indeed, when standing before it, as well as 
before many other buildings I have since seen, I 
have been dumb with amazement, and feel utterly 
unable to give a description of them. I started for 
London the same evening about 4 o'clock, and was 
hurried along at almost lightning speed until about 
9 o'clock, when we found ourselves landed in the 
midst of cabs and cabmen at the London depot — 
distance over two hundred miles. In company 
w T ith some others I took a cab and went to the Ter- 
minus Hotel, at the end of the great London bridge, 
a good hotel and of very moderate charges. Their 
hotel system here is very different from ours. For 
instance, we paid two shillings (half a dollar) for 
room and bed, and then we could take our meals 
wherever we liked. It is much cheaper and as pleas- 
ant to get them at some coffee-house. A mutton 
chop and cup of coffee for breakfast, at about a shil- 



GEORGE PAULL. 23 

ling ; and a mutton chop here is almost equal to a 
dish of oysters in point of delicacy — so rich and 
juicy. We do not know anything about them in 
America. On Thursday morning, Mr. Greenly (a 
young man who came over with us in the vessel) 
and I started out to see the sights. St. Paul's 
Cathedral was the first object of interest to which 
we bent our steps. So, passing down by the pier 
of London Bridge to the river Thames — and 
London Bridge, by the way, deserves a word, it has 
so great a fame ; but it is not imposing in appear- 
ance. There is no wood, no wire, no paint about it : 
all stone and mortar. The arches beneath, and the 
side walls running up four or five feet from the floor, 
and the floor paved with stone just like the street, 
is all that there is of it. But then London Bridge 
is such a wonderful thoroughfare. In the after- 
noons it is a strange sight to see the pell-mell rush 
of wagons, cabs, omnibuses, all mixed up and mov- 
ing to and fro as best they can, and footmen in the 
same dilemma. 

" But to St. Paul's we took a boat at the pier — 
little tugs that steam up and down the river with 
wonderful rapidity, carrying passengers at a penny 
apiece to any distance almost — and ran up to 
the St. Paul's wharf, and from that a short walk 



24 GEORGE PAULL. 

brought us to the cathedral. But of that grand 
old pile of stone, rising upward toward the clouds 
more than four hundred feet, I can scarcely say 
anything that would be satisfactory. You would 
think me wonderfully enthusiastic if I should at- 
tempt to speak anything as I feel in regard to it. 
Entering by the north door, you are at once in the 
main and central part, an immense amphitheatre, in 
which you might place almost a score of churches, 
steeples and all. All around this vast dome, on 
the walls and against them and against the col- 
umns, are monuments and sculptures with inscrip- 
tions to the memory of the great dead — generally 
their full-length effigies carved in marble. You 
look up, and about three hundred feet above you, 
all around the inside of the dome, are splendid 
paintings illustrative of incidents in Scripture. 
From the floor, by paying two shillings, you are 
taken by guides to the very crown (a flight of over 
six hundred steps), and a weary climb it is. Your 
first landing-place is on the ( First Gallery/ about 
two hundred feet high on the outside ; the next is 
the 'Golden Gallery/ about one hundred feet 
higher, and from here one can see all over Lon- 
don. But the day was foggy. Greenly and I, as 
most others do, climbed on until we stuck our 



GEORGE PA ULL. 25 

heads up into the inside of the topmost crown. Of 
course there was no danger, as it is all inside of 
the building. We then came down and looked at 
the clock, which is about two hundred years old, 
and reminds you of a small saw-mill running sev- 
eral circular saws. Then we gave a glance at the 
library and the great bell and the circular stairway, 
which are all well worth a careful survey. It 
really seems as if it were worth a trip across the 
Atlantic to peep into St. PauPs. 

" In the vaults below, through which we also 
went, lie the bones of those who died centuries 
ago, and some of later date, as the Duke of Wel- 
lington and Lord Nelson, I think, and Benjamin 
West, the great artist from our own land (Pennsyl- 
vania). Never lived there a man in Great Britain, 
I suppose, whose memory is so revered as that of 
the Duke of Wellington. Near to his tomb, which 
is a splendid mausoleum, is deposited the car on 
which he was drawn by ten black horses to his 
last resting-place. It is a splendid and costly 
affair ; the wheels (twelve in number) are all brass, 
moulded from the cannon which, I think, he cap- 
tured at Waterloo. The body of the car is cov- 
ered with black cloth, adorned with trappings and 
immense ostrich plumes. Around the walls of 



26 GEORGE PAULL. 

the vault are hung black cloth and trappings and 
armor. The vault is lit up by candles constantly 
kept burning. 

"After spending some hours thus most pleas- 
antly in St. Paul's, we dined, and went to visit 
the Houses of Parliament. These, too, are very 
gorgeous. They are just across the street from 
the old Westminster Abbey. Entering at the 
door and passing through an immense hall, high 
and arched, we ascended a few steps and then en- 
tered another hall to the left. Each side of this 
hall was lined with full-length statues of England's 
great ones — Pitt and Grattan and others. At the 
end of this hall, right and left, are the House of 
Commons and the House of Lords. I went into 
the House of Commons, but I cannot describe its 
gorgeousness. The House of Lords was closed, and 
visitors were not admitted except on Saturdays. 
But by permission of one of the police, who are 
always in attendance, I got into a hall from which, 
through a glass door, I could get a peep at its 
magnificence. The throne, on which her majesty 
sits when she presides, was covered over, so that I 
did not get a sight of it. The Houses of Parlia- 
ment are right on the bank of the river Thames. 

" We next passed over to the great Westminster 



GEORGE PAULL. 27 

Abbey, memorable in English history for many a 
century. Parts of it yet remain in the old Saxon 
and Norman style of architecture. Beneath its 
pavements lie the bones of many a monk interred 
before the Keformation, some of them eight or 
nine hundred years ago. Here all of England's 
kings and queens have been crowned for many a 
generation; and here also lie their bones. The 
whole building is an immense affair, splendidly 
adorned with all that the sculptor's chisel, in times 
both ancient and modern, could supply. Many 
of the windows are filled with the most beautiful 
Scriptural designs, painted on the glass. Here I 
stood on the graves of Addison (of the Spectator) 
and Southey and Johnson and Garrick and Sheri- 
dan and Campbell and Spenser. Macau! ay, too, 
lay near by, and many others of the noble dead. 
They lie just under the stone floor; some of them 
have slabs lying over them, and almost all have 
busts and inscriptions to their memory on the wall. 
I stood, too, beside the tomb of Queen Elizabeth, 
for whose memory (although she was a great queen) 
I do not have any wonderful respect. Mary, Queen 
of Scots, whom she so hated in life, lies near her in 
death, and I stood beside her vault, on top of 
which is her full-length statue, recumbent. 



28 GEORGE PAULL. 

" In one of the chapels I was shown the stone 
chair on which the monarchs of England are 
crowned, and have been for a long time back. It 
looks old and rusty, and seems to have been cut 
out of solid stone. On one side of the Abbey is 
an entrance for the royal family, along which no 
others are allowed to tread. In one part of the 
Abbey, service is kept up twice a day all the year 
round — the service of the Established Church, the 
same as the Episcopal Church in America, with 
the exception of some little formalities, viz., bow- 
ing the head whenever the name of Christ is men- 
tioned ; chanting their prayers ; having their choirs 
composed of little boys in white robes. I have not 
seen any of the royal family since I have been in 
London, nor any of the nobility, as they are all 
out of the city. 

" English people, so far as I have met with 
them, seem to be very kind, noble-hearted and 
polite. If you ask for information on the street, 
or anywhere, from the highest class, they are all 
attention, and seem willing and anxious to do you 
all the kindness in their power. I think they feel 
kindly toward Americans, and wish Americans to 
feel so toward them. On every hand they say, 
i When are you going to get through with this 



GEORGE PAULL. 29 

war ? * It is a terrible pity to have so much blood 
shed/ But they will admit that the North could 
not well do otherwise than she has done. 

" Englishmen recognize Americans almost as soon 
as they speak, and some of them take a great pride 
in it, and soon give you to understand that they 
know where you are from. Their accent and the 
pronunciation of some of their words is quite dif- 
ferent from ours, so I am sure there would be no 
trouble in recognizing an Englishman anywhere. 

" But to return to our travel around the city. 
After leaving Westminster we took a hansom — a gig 
which is the most common conveyance here, a 
heavy-wheeled affair with one horse, the driver sit- 
ting on a seat on the top behind— and drove around 
by St. James' Park and Buckingham Palace, which 
is fine, very fine indeed, but yet not so imposing as 
might be expected for the residence of England's 
Queen; and then, passing first Hyde Park, down 
through Temple Bar — which is an arched gateway, 
once the outward entrance to the city when it was 
walled — past St. Paul's and over London Bridge to 
the Terminus Hotel. But enough of description 
for this time. I shall not get off from Glasgow 
for Africa until the first of January. If I had 
* The civil war then unhappily raging in the United States. 



30 GEORGE PAULL. 

known this, I might have had the pleasure of 
staying longer at home. But God has ordered it as 
it is for the best, and I am content, as I trust I ever 
shall be when I walk in the way in which God 
leads me. I am happy, though I have a strange 
feeling of being cut off from the sweets of home 
and friends, a wayfarer, a stranger, journeying 
slowly onward, I trust, toward the heavenly City 
of which the Lord God hath said, ' I will give it 
thee/ I am expecting to take the morning train 
for Glasgow, to await the sailing of the vessel for 
Africa." 

Mr. Paull writes his first letter from Scotland to 
his two younger brothers : 

"Glasgow, Dec. 21, 1SG3. 
"For nearly a week I have been snugly and 
pleasantly settled in this old but thriving city of the 
Scots. Look at the map, and you will find it on 
the banks of the Clyde, a little river, and once of 
not much note ; but latterly its channel has been 
deepened, so that the largest vessels now sail up to 
the city. To this it owes its present wonderful pros- 
perity." After a brief description of the city, he 
says : " On my arrival at Glasgow, last Tuesday 
night, I stopped at the Queen's Hotel, and a very 
fine one it is. While I think of it, I must tell you 



GEORGE PAULL. 31 

of some Highlanders that I saw there. They were 
the largest and finest-looking men that I have 
seen. Their dress was the peculiar part. First, a 
short coat extending down below the waist, then, 
fastened under that, and extending down to the 
knees, was a petticoat — ( kilt ' they call it. Their 
stockings reached up nearly to their knees, and 
this was their full dress — no pants on — so you may 
imagine there was a good opportunity for the 
wind to whistle about them on a cold day, for their 
legs were entirely bare except the clothing I have 
mentioned. They were officers of a Highland 
regiment in the British army, and this is their 
usual dress. 

" Next morning I went to hunt up Mr. Laugh- 
land, in whose ship I am to go out. He was not in, 
but one of his clerks, who has spent some years on 
the coast of Africa, asked me if I was Mr. Paull, 
and said that a Mr. Thompson, who had been a 
missionary on the coast of Africa at Calabar, and 
was now at home recruiting his health, at his uncle's 
house, wanted to see me. The clerk took me down 
to call on him, and they so insisted on my making 
my home with them that I could not refuse with- 
out being rude. So here I am, feeling perfectly at 
home, and receiving every kindness, in this warm- 



32 GEORGE PAULL. 

hearted Scotch family. The family consists of the 
missionary and his sister (a young lady), an uncle 
and aunt, both unmarried. They are all pleasant, 
and great friends to the missionaries. They seem 
to make it a point to entertain all missionaries who 
come along this way. 

" Mr. Thompson's station is a few hundred miles 
north of that to which I go. I met also a mission- 
ary and his wife just starting out to Calabar, It 
seems to be a short trip from here to Africa, a good 
many missionaries going and returning, and young 
men going out as clerks and traders along the coast. 
I find I am not likely to get off before the middle 
of January. The ship is not yet returned from the 
coast, but is expected about New Year. It will 
then be to load and repair." 

Mr. Paull resumes his report of sights in Lon- 
don, and says : " I found my way to the British 
Museum, and there, in that wonderful collection of 
natural history (nor are works of art by any 
means wanting), I spent most of the day. It 
is a great building, covering perhaps an acre or two, 
with immense rooms hundreds of feet long, run- 
ning in every direction, and these filled with collec- 
tions of every kind, from every clime. Going up 
stairs, almost the first things that I saw were Du 



GEORGE PAULL. 33 

Chaillu's gorillas, three of them (stuffed, of course), 
and one of them an immense creature. There 
were stuffed elephants, rhinoceroses, giraffes, lions, 
bears, deer, antelope, and every kind of animal you 
could mention, and hundreds of animals which 
you have never seen, nor even heard their names. 
In the departments for the birds, I suppose I 
may safely say there were tens of thousands 
of stuffed specimens, of every size and shape 
and color, from almost every clime under the 
sun. In the department for reptiles it was the 
same — alligators, lizards, snakes, seals, the walrus, 
etc. There was also a department for geological 
collections which was very interesting — the bones 
of animals dug from the earth after having been 
buried for ages; rocks of different kinds, with 
every possible impression of plants and animals 
and reptiles on them. There were also departments 
for the antiquities that have been found in the 
ancient cities. Layard's discoveries are there from 
Nineveh, etc. Also mummies from Egypt, mum- 
mied cats and mummied dogs. Also sarcophagi 
from Greece and Rome, Indian curiosities, and 
curiosities from Greenland and Iceland — clothes 
of skin, sledges, etc. Besides these, they have vast 
libraries containing thousands upon thousands of 

3 



o4 GEORGE PAULL. 

volumes, and also autograph letters and manuscripts 
by the great men of the world for many centuries 
back. I saw the original will of Mary, Queen of 
Scots, and the prayer-book which Lady Jane Grey 
used on the scaffold ; some of the writings of Mil- 
ton and Addison, written with their own hands. It 
would be impossible to give you a description of 
the things that are there, and, even if it could be 
done, it would not be very satisfactory. But I 
hope you may one day be able to see them for your- 
selves. Good-bye. Give much love to all ; and 
that you may be noble and faithful boys is the 
prayer of your brother." 
To his parents he writes : 

M Glasgow, Dec. 29, 1863. 
" From old habit, I suppose, I feel that I ought 
always to be at least doing something toward 
writing you a letter every week. Those I have 
already mailed since I landed on this side of the 
water I trust have duly come to hand. My 
thoughts wander back and cluster around my old 
home with a daily constancy. But I have been 
kindly kept from either sadness or loneliness, so 
that I trust you may never have occasion to think 
of me in any other way than as calmly content and 
happy in treading the path which I trust the 



GEORGE PAULL. 35 

providence of God has marked out for me. The 
lines have fallen to me in pleasant places here, and, 
unexpectedly, I have been set down among as kind 
friends as I could have met with in my own land. 
From the very first they have taken me in and 
treated me with the most kind and careful attention, 
making me feel as perfectly at home, almost, as 
though I had known them all my life. The mem- 
bers of the family are all warm-hearted Christians, 
and their being so intimately interested in the mis- 
sionary work, through their nephew and his father 
(who was also a missionary, and died away in the 
interior of Africa), they have a kindly sympathy 
for all who are wending their way to and from the 
heathen. 

" The nephew has spent most of his life in Africa, 
was about fourteen or fifteen when his father died, 
and was with him on an expedition into the interior 
at the time. After his father's death, he, being the 
only white person in the company, took charge of 
the expedition back again to Sierra Leone. After 
this he came to Scotland for his education, and went 
out again as a missionary to Calabar, a few hundred 
miles north of Corisco. He has since then been 
out ten years, spending five years there, and then 
coming home a year or two to recruit. I hear so 



36 GEORGE PAULL. 

much of the coast of Africa that it scarcely seems 
to be a far-off land, and all that I have heard has 
but heightened my zeal for the work, and helped at 
least to confirm the hope that my call to go there is 
indeed of God. 

" I have had a glimpse or two at Glasgow peo- 
ple at a public l tea-party/ a peculiar institution 
on this side of the water. These parties are held in 
their large halls. I was at one last night in the 
City Hall, given by the Young Men's Christian 
Association. A shilling at the door admits you. 
Within, the seats are ranged alongside of narrow 
tables running the whole length of the hall. On 
these are seated a vast assemblage, awaiting the 
dealing out of the popular beverage. At the ap- 
pointed hour (7 o'clock) the chairman, a tall Scotch 
baron, took his seat, and after a short prayer the tea- 
drinking commenced, and cakes of various kinds 
were served with it. This lasts half an hour, and 
the remainder of the evening is filled up with 
speeches, generally from the more eminent minis- 
ters of the city. The evening passed away very 
pleasantly. The speeches were good, generally 
having some bearing on the association. This cus- 
tom of so much public speech-making must be a 
great tax on the ministers, in addition to the duties 






GEORGE PAULL. 37 

connected with their various charges ; and yet they 
seem in a measure obliged to take part in these 
things, or be lost sight of in the busy city. I was 
at another, in honor of the installation of Dr. 
Brown over one of the churches, much the same 
in kind as this of which I have spoken. 

" You will perhaps wonder how my Christmas 
was spent, as I also was striving to guess how you 
were all enjoying yours. By previous invitation, 
I went to partake of a family dinner at a brother 
of Mr. Thompson's, in another part of the city. 
We dined on roast turkey and plum pudding, 
which is, I believe, the favorite Christmas fare 
with both English and Scotch. I met at the 
dinner a very pleasant gentleman by the name of 
Shields, a relative, I believe, of the Thompsons. 
He has since sent me an invitation from his pastor 
to preach for him on next Sabbath, which I agreed 
to do on the morning of the day. There are sev- 
eral eminent ministers here that I want to hear 
before I go away. Dr. McDuff, the author of the 
'Morning and Night Watches/ is settled here; also 
Andrew Bonar, author of the life of McCheyne. 
I heard on last Sabbath Dr. Eadie, a celebrated 
Scotch commentator; also two other ministers of 
considerable note. 



38 GEORGE PAULL. 

"The vessel (Elgiva) is expected in from the 
coast of Africa in a few days now, and then in 
about twelve days' time she will be ready to sail 
again. She is a new vessel, and has an excellent 
captain. The voyage requires about two months. 
A letter was received by Mr. Thompson this 
morning from Mr. Bushnell, of the mission on the 
Gaboon River, opposite Corisco. He seemed afraid 
that our missionary privileges might be restricted 
at Corisco, as a Jesuit priest was soon to be sta- 
tioned there by the Spaniards. 

"But I had not yet finished giving you an ac- 
count of my London visit when I closed my last, 
so I will devote part of this letter to that. After 
I had visited the British Museum, I concluded to 
take up my lodgings near the central part of the 
city. I found a boarding-house right by Charing 
Cross, which is the great omnibus centre, from 
which you can get an omnibus to any part of the 
city. I had very nice quarters. Next morning, 
going down to the Thames, I took a boat up past 
the London Bridge to the old Tower of London, 
so famous in English history. Paying a shilling 
at the entrance, I found a guide who led the way 
across the old moat, now dry, into the frowning 
and massive walls of stone to the Horse Armory. 



GEORGE PAULL. 39 

Here were mock men on mock horses, clad in steel 
armor which had been worn by kings and nobles 
from Edward I. (1272) down to James II. (1685). 
The suits on men and horses were polished bright 
and clean — beautiful relics of the times that are 
past. Some of them w T ere of immense weight; a 
wonderful burden for a horse to bear must have 
been old Henry VIII., with his own ponder- 
ous body and his full suit of steel plate and the 
armor for his horse! There were armors that a 
score of other kings (as Henry VII. and Richard 
III.) and noblemen had worn, and some of smaller 
size, which had been the property of young princes. 
In addition to these, there were lances and spears 
of every age, and swords and pistols and guns 
innumerable. 

"In another room I saw the block on which 
three Scotch lords had been beheaded, and the 
head-axe with which Lady Jane Grey was said to 
have been executed. In another apartment the 
guide pointed out the crown jewels, kept in a glass 
case surrounded by an iron railing. Victoria's 
crown was there, resplendent with gold and jewels, 
also the crown of the Prince of Wales and the 
queen's golden sceptre, and much other gold and 
jewels, in value about three millions of dollars. 



40 GEORGE PAULL. 

In another apartment I saw where the prisoners 
have been kept in ages long gone by. The stones 
were carved with various names and devices by 
those who had been confined. In the outer yard 
was marked the spot where the executions had 
taken place by the block and axe. 

" From the Tower a boatman rowed me to the 
Thames Tunnel, a remarkable arched road running 
under the river from one shore to the other. On 
each side of the tunnel are little shops and stalls 
for shops — many of them unoccupied — running 
the whole way. Musicians at different places are 
constantly making the tunnel ring with their 
strains, hoping to pick up an occasional penny 
from the passers-by in return for their melody. 
While the tunnel was being built, I was told that 
the water of the river once broke through, and 
even carried a flatboat through with it. The 
current was checked by throwing in sand-bags 
from above. Another curiosity which I saw, but 
did not travel on, is an underground railroad run- 
ning for several miles immediately under the streets 
of the city. There are depots through the city, 
and steps leading down to the railroad. 

" The last day I spent in the city was chiefly at 
the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, and a 






GEORGE PAULL. 41 

delightful place they are to visit. Among all the 
interesting things that I saw, this was by no means 
the least. This is a large enclosure, with houses 
and stalls and large cages, in which are collected 
all manner of beasts and birds from almost every 
part of the world. A sixpence was the price of 
admission. The boys would think it a wonderful 
treat. The monkey-cage generally had a crowd 
about it, for the pranks of the creatures were 
amusing beyond description. Parrots, too, were 
there from every clime, and bears and lions; an 
old elephant and a baby elephant ; immense hippo- 
potami and giraffes and ostriches — one a most beau- 
tiful specimen, with glossy black plumage over him, 
except the wings and tail, which were white ; and 
for size he was monstrous. As I stood by the en- 
closure, he reached his head over high above my 
own. Everything looked plump and in fine con- 
dition, very different, indeed, from those that are 
usually seen in traveling menageries. These im- 
mense gardens, with their rare inhabitants, are kept 
up partly at the expense of the city and partly by 
private enterprise. 

"In the morning of the Sabbath that I spent in 
London I went to hear the great Spurgeon, as simple, 
plain a gospel preacher as I ever listened to. His 



42 GEORGE PAULL. 

sermons are food for the soul. His tabernacle, which 
holds five or six thousand, was full, as indeed is 
always the case, and at nights it is often so crowded 
that hundreds cannot find seats. It is built with 
two rows of galleries running all the way round, 
and his pulpit projects a considerable distance 
toward the centre. Mr. Spurgeon is a heavy-set 
man, not very tall, with a round, happy face. He 
speaks with a clear and distinct voice, but not very 
loud ; no one, I think, however, even the farthest 
off*, has any difficulty in hearing him. He speaks 
without notes, has but few gestures, and is en- 
tirely free from affectation. I went in the after- 
noon to Dr. Hamilton's church, but found it closed. 

" With much love and a happy new year to you 
all, I bid you good-night. And may our Father 
still bless and protect us, though absent far one 
from another." 

Another letter to his parents from Glasgow is 
dated 

"Glasgow, Jan. 11, 1864. 

" To-morrow, Mr. Thompson (the missionary), 
his sister, and a Miss Stuart and I, start on a visit 
to Edinburgh, Melrose Abbey and Abbotsford. 
This little trip I have been putting off for some 
time, knowing that I have several weeks for sight- 



GEORGE PAULL. 43 

seeing. A long delay it has been, and it might 
have been a most tiresome one had not the Lord 
placed me in the hands of such kind friends, who 
make it their study to show me every possible kind- 
ness and try to keep me from thinking the time 
long ; so that, although I have felt anxious to be 
away as soon as possible and at my work, I have 
had a most delightful stay in Scotland. I hope I 
am learning this lesson : to be content with what- 
ever the Lord sends me. I have now some pros- 
pect of getting away. The ship Elgivahas not yet 
arrived, but is reported on the coast of Ireland, and 
will be in Glasgow perhaps to-morrow. I may 
expect to sail for Africa about the first of February. 
I have been waiting so long that now the certain 
prospect of getting off, though somewhat distant, 
seems most gratifying. My time has been passed 
pleasantly enough, but if I could have had my own 
choice I would have spent more of it in reading 
and writing. But the family have always had some 
plan on foot to fill up the time — one day away 
through the Cathedral and the Necropolis — the 
cemetery of Glasgow — the last very different from 
ours. It is a large terraced hill, and every terrace 
filled with monuments of stone, granite or marble. 
These are short and thick, so that every terrace 



44 GEORGE PAULL. 

gives you the impression of a rampart or fortifica- 
tion of some kind. The hill presents a very grand 
appearance as it rises in the distance, with its 
weight of monumental stones and its solemn aspect. 
There is a fine monument here to the memory of 
John Knox, though his body lies elsewhere. I saw 
the grave of Motherwell, the poet. Near by is an 
inscription to the memory of nine men who were 
martyred during the persecution in Scotland many 
hundred years ago. The lines on the stone are 
peculiar. The last two, speaking of the persecutors, 
run about thus : 

'They shall know at the judgment-day 
That to murder saints was no fine play.' 

" I went over the Clyde on yesterday (Sabbath) 
a week, and preached for Rev. Mr. Birkmver of the 
Free Church. He is a young man, lately settled 
in a most important charge. I feel a sympathy for 
him, for his work w r ill be heavy enough. On yester- 
day morning I went to hear Dr. Caird, but was dis- 
appointed, as he did not preach. The church in 
which I sat is one in which Dr. Chalmers was for 
a long time settled (Tron Church), and in which he 
delivered his great astronomical discourses. In the 
afternoon I preached for the Rev. Mr. Middleton 



GEORGE PAULL. 45 

in one of the oldest churches in the city, which has 
about twelve hundred members. I preached to as 
attentive an audience as I ever saw. This I notice 
among the Scotch — that they give good heed to 
every one that addresses them. When the minister 
reads they have their Bibles and follow him. Their 
singing is altogether congregational. A precentor 
leads and the congregation all join. I have not 
seen a church with an organ, and they sing David's 
psalms, the old version. 

" We went to-day to the City Hall to attend a 
meeting of the National Bible Society, saw quite a 
large crowd and heard several very good speeches. 
The Duke of Argyle presided, and made a good 
speech. A noble man he seems to be, and thoroughly 
interested in everything good. I heard a speech 
from the Earl of Dalhousie, and part of one from 
Rev. Sir Henry Moncrief ; so that for one day I 
saw a good many representatives of the nobility, 
and worthy specimens they are. There is a most 
astonishing deference and respect shown to rank 
here by every one. 

" My New Year was spent here. Mr. Thomp- 
son's brother and family were all with us. We had 
a great dinner, like that on Christmas. On Saturday 
Mr. Thompson and I took a trip into the country 



46 GEORGE PAULL. 

and a ramble over the hills at the foot of the High- 
lands. We met some marks which the old Ro- 
mans had left when they held possession here — 
one old stone bridge, in particular, which was built 
seventeen hundred years ago, in the time of Hadrian. 
As I go early in the morning I will have to close, 
for it is now late. This seems to me a very un- 
satisfactory letter to send so far, but I hope to do 
better soon, after my return from Edinburgh. 
Much love to all my friends, and tell them all to 
write, for I shall be greedy of letters. Good-night, 
and much love and many blessings on you all." 

To his sister he writes : 

"Glasgow, Jan. 27, 1864. 

" The Elgiva is now on the slip being examined, 
and w 7 ill likely be off and loaded by the last of this 
week or the early part of next. Although the 
delay has been very long, it may all be for the best, 
for even if we had got off several weeks sooner, 
like many other vessels, we might still have been 
tossing about in the English Channel, unable, on 
account of the winds, to make the open sea. My 
acquaintance here, too, has been extending, so as to 
make my stay as pleasant as it could possibly be 
under the circumstances. I have found a good 
many Scotch friends, whom I shall always remem- 






GEORGE PAULL. 47 

ber with great pleasure, especially the Thompsons, 
with whom I am staying, who have proved them- 
selves friends such as are worth having. I hope 
I may never forget their kindness, and never lose 
an opportunity of showing them that I fully ap- 
preciate it all. 

" Mr. George Thompson and I started on a trip 
to Loch Lomond. The weather was foggy and 
sometimes raining, but occasionally we got a peep 
at the sun. We took the train down the Clyde to 
Hellensburgh, and thence struck for the Highlands 
on foot. The roads were delightful — all macadam- 
ized and kept in fine repair. Our way lay right 
up over the hills, and through the moors and peat 
beds, where they get peat for burning ; all the land- 
scape around looked splendid, just from its rugged 
dreariness ; all the ground covered with the brown 
heather, which in the distance looked like whortle- 
berry bushes. We saw a great many heath-fowls, 
about the size of a pheasant, but no one is at lib- 
erty to shoot them without license. We caught a 
glimpse of some beautiful pheasants on the estate 
of Sir James Colquhoun — pheasants not such as 
ours, but with very long tails, and beautiful bright 
plumage about the neck and breast, originally 
from China or Persia. On the way we were 



48 GEORGE PAULL. 

caught in a driving shower, but took shelter be- 
hind a stone bridge. After a walk of about nine 
miles we came to Luss, stopped at the inn and got 
some refreshment, and then trudged on three and 
a half miles farther to Inverngle's inn, on the 
shore of the lake, and right under the shadow of 
old Ben Lomond. There we stopped for the night, 
and had a good supper of ham and eggs. We 
were none the worse for the walk, except that I 
had blistered my heel. However, after we got 
rested and the moon was fairly up, I took off my 
shoes and put on the landlord's big brogans, and 
away we started for a walk up the lake by moon- 
light. 

"We were now about the centre of the lake 
(or loch, as it is called, about thirty miles long and 
from three to five wide), and right opposite stood 
Ben Lomond, with its top white with snow and 
covered with clouds. Along the side on which we 
walked the bare hills ran up almost as high, and 
the tops were also covered w T ith snow. As we 
walked along their base, down came rivulet after 
rivulet, jumping from rock to rock. The music of 
one had not died away on our ears until we heard 
the murmur of another. The whole scene was 
wild, picturesque and beautiful. Its wildness and 



GEORGE PAULL, 49 

strangeness made it seem almost enchanting. After 
a while we wended our way back to the inn, feel- 
ing in good trim for a sound sleep after about 
fourteen miles of a walk. 

" Next morning, after breakfast, we climbed up 
the mountain side opposite Ben Lomond, and had 
a noble view up and down the lake ; and while we 
stood there, with our heads almost in the clouds, a 
wild snow storm swept about us, and far above us 
the tops of the mountains were white with snow, 
and away through the storm, down on the lake be- 
low, we saw the sunshine glistening on the waters ; 
and along the lake we had seen some roses and 
daisies in bloom. In a little nest among these 
mountain tops we came across a beautiful little 
lake, called the Fairy Lake, and from it a good 
large stream goes tumbling down the mountain- 
side. The Scotch have an old legend connected 
with this little lake. The fairies here, in their 
mountains, it is said, once had their abode, and at 
this little lake they did their dyeing, not only for 
themselves but for all the people around. As the 
fairies were invisible, of course each old lady must 
bring her fleece of wool and lay it down beside 
the lake, with a piece of yarn thread of whatever 
color she wished her parcel to be dyed. But a 



50 GEORGE PAULL. 

certain waff at one time brought a black sheep's 
fleece with a white thread on top of it. This 
piece of malicious waggery so offended and dis- 
gusted the fairies that they deserted their beau- 
tiful lake, and left the old ladies thereafter to do 
their own dyeing. 

" From this we went down again to the side of 
the lake, and up along it on a splendid macadam- 
ized road until we came to a Mr. M'Farland's, 
where we took dinner. He had belonged to the 
old M'Farland clan of Highlanders. Mr. Thomp- 
son knew him, having spent some weeks there in 
the summer. After dinner w T e went on up to Tar- 
bet, near the other end of the lake, where is a fine 
large hotel, and some beautiful summer residences, 
for the accommodation of those who wish to spend 
their summers on the shore of the loch. Nearly 
all the land on one side of the loch is owned by 
Sir James Colquhoun, and he has his residence on 
a beautiful little neck of land that puts out into 
the loch. At Tarbet we took the little steamer 
that plies up and down the lake, and sailed down 
to the river Swan, which is the outlet of Loch 
Lomond. Here we took the cars to Bowling, and 
walked thence to Dun Lochen, where I was to 
preach for Mr. Slack on the next day. This was 



GEORGE PAULL. 51 

one of the most delightful trips I ever had. Dun 
Lochen is a town of cotton mills, nine or ten miles 
from Glasgow. The property, amounting in value 
to perhaps two and a half millions of dollars, was 
all made and owned by one man ; but now he is 
dead, and the heirs are quarreling over his will. 

" On Tuesday I came into Glasgow, and in the 
evening we had a very pleasant little party. 

"Wednesday, Feb. 3. — This is my birthday, 
which completes my 27th year. I hope I may 
grow in all that is good as fast as I do in years. 
I was out to take tea this evening at Mr. M'Cor- 
mick's. Their son is going out with me as a clerk 
to the Gaboon River. I felt for the poor mother. 
As we spoke of his going away, the silent tear 
would trickle down her cheek, showing the feel- 
ings at work within. There are three young men 
going out on the Elgiva, the only passengers be- 
side myself. They go out as clerks along the coast 
of Africa. I hope I may be enabled to do them 
some good on the voyage. 

" Thursday, 4th. — It seems we are to get off, at 
last, on day after to-morrow. I am heartily glad 
of it. To-day I must make some calls, and to- 
morrow pack up my trunks and send them on 
board. I will finish my letter to-day, and per- 



52 GEORGE PATJLL. 

haps put a scrap in to-morrow morning, as it must 
be mailed to-morrow to get off this week. It will 
be a long time before you hear from me again, 
possibly not till the middle or last of June, as it 
will take about two months to reach Africa, and 
two months for a letter to return. But do not 
feel the least uneasiness or anxiety about me. I 
have firm faith that our God who guides the storm 
will bring me safely to my journey's end ; and 
even if he should not, still all will be well, for we 
shall meet again. Let me be often remembered in 
your prayers, as I know I am, and particularly 
that I may be a blessing to these young men who 
go out with me. I long greatly to hear from you 
all, but I must wait patiently till I arrive at Co- 
risco. Mr. Thompson and I gathered some mosses 
and ferns on the banks of Loch Lomond, and Miss 
Jessie Thompson has arranged them nicely for 
me to send to you as a memento of my trip. 

"And now I pray that the graces of Christ may 
dwell in us all richly while we live, and that we 
may all at last sit down together on high. 

"Friday Morning. — AVe expect to go down to 
the bark to-morrow, and perhaps sail out in the 
night or next morning. I was calling on some of 
my friends yesterday to say good-bye. I have 






GEORGE PAULL. 53 

friends in Scotland whom I will always remember 
with pleasure. I have my trunks packed, and 
expect to send them aboard this evening. Good- 
bye." 

To his parents he w T rites after sailing : 

"Out at Sea, Feb., 1864. 

"I intend to jot down such things as I think 
may be of any interest to you, as we sail along, 
and send the result to you at the first opportunity. 
I wrote you a very short note just as we were 
putting out to sea, and sent it back by the captain's 
wife, who came out as far as the tug and went 
back with it, but I had not time to speak of my 
departure from Glasgow. On the Saturday even- 
ing before I left, we were all out at Mr. George 
Thompson's brother's for tea— quite a company of 
us. We had a season of prayer together, and then 
Mr. George Thompson and I started for Greenock, 
where we spent the Sabbath. I feel under never- 
ending obligations to the Thompson family ; they 
have been kind, very hind friends of mine, and I 
hold them in high esteem. If I have ever an op- 
portunity, I will try to show them that I do really 
appreciate all their deeds of kindness. When I 
started, they put up for me half a dozen bottles of 
raspberry vinegar to mix with the water at sea, also 



54 GEORGE PAULL. 

two nice jars of jelly and a fine big Scotch cake with 
fruit mixed in it. They seemed sorry to have me 
go away, and I am sure that I shall look back 
with longing many a time for the return of as 
pleasant hours as I spent in that family. One 
thing that made my stay delightful and profitable 
was the high tone of piety and Christian feeling 
among them all. 

" Tuesday, 9th. — The tug left us, we put the cap- 
tain's wife aboard of her, and the sailors started 
her off with cheers. The captain's little son is 
along with us, and a nice little fellow he is, but 
very delicate. His father takes him in hopes that 
the voyage will make him strong. On the north 
coast of Ireland, to-day, we passed the Giant's 
Causeway, which the boys will know about from 
their geography. The weather is fair, and we were 
on deck part of the time, but in the afternoon the 
motion of the ship made us all sick, and we were 
obliged to roll into bed. 

"Friday, 12th. — I have not done anything since 
Tuesday but lie in bed sick, sick — not dangerously 
ill, but then the most dreadful nausea and vomit- 
ing. I was not much troubled with it coming 
over from Kew York, but this time I have caught 
it in its full force. All of us who are passengers 



GEORGE PAULL. 55 

are in the same condition. We have a Dutch stew- 
ard, a very clever old fellow, who watches over us 
very tenderly, tucks the clothes in about us in bed, 
brings food, and insists on our eating. This after- 
noon two or three of us climbed up on deck, and 
found it quite pleasant, as the sun was shining, but 
the breeze was pretty cold ; we got down, however, 
behind the boats, and John (Yahn) brought us 
some boiled potatoes and salt and cold beef, and 
we made out to eat a little. 

" We expect to have morning and evening pray- 
ers in the cabin, and preaching regularly on the 
Sabbath. 

" Tuesday, 16th. — For the last few days we have 
been sailing under difficulties. On last Friday 
night, when we had reached about the 53d par- 
allel of latitude, off the west coast of Ireland, a 
terrible gale struck us and threatened to blow us 
away backward. But immediately all hands were 
on deck, and the sails closely furled and the ship 
left to drift. So for two or three days we were 
tossed about at the mercy of the wind and the 
waves, slowly drifting backwards with the cur- 
rent. Sometimes a great wave would strike us, 
and make the ship quiver, and again the waves 
would break clear over us, and send the salt sea in 



56 GEORGE PAULL 

upon us at every crevice, until the floor of the 
cabin and state-rooms was entirely wet, and also 
most of the bedclothes. Mine, however, remained 
pretty comfortable all the time. 

The poor seamen had a terrible time of it, as 
many of them had to be on deck in the midst of 
the rain and storm. The deck is just a plain 
flat top, rather narrow, and without a bit of rail- 
ing. How the men stood up on it in the midst 
of a gale, while the ship was tossing like an egg- 
shell, and turning almost halfway over on her 
side, I suppose only a seaman can tell. Most of 
us spent rather sleepless nights. Indeed to me it 
was a time of anxious watchfulness, and much of 
the time was spent in examining my own heart, to 
know how my case stood. We were doubtless in a 
good deal of danger, and it was at least a time 
when, if ever, one should be thoughtful and anx- 
ious to know his case. I endeavored to put all my 
concerns in the hands of Christ, and to feel that 
they rested securely there. And yet, oh how I felt 
that if ever such a sinner as I be saved, it must be 
'just so as by fire/ fleeing as a man flees from a 
burning building, escaping naked from the flames ! 
God knows just how to deal with his people, and 
I trust he is saying to me in this, ' Fix your eye 



GEORGE PAULL. 57 

more steadily on Christ, and never, never remove 
it until you arrive in glory/ 

" On Monday the captain concluded to put back 
to harbor and wait for a change of wind, and 
arrange his deck load of boards better; for the 
boards had been tossed in such a way that it was 
almost impossible for the sailors to get about over 
them. He intended to take Belfast as the nearest 
and best harbor (on the north-east coast of Ireland), 
but when .he got around there this morning, he 
found such a fine and favorable wind blowing, and 
everything so promising, that he determined to 
keep on down St. George/ s Channel, and out to sea 
by that way, not stopping at all, but arranging the 
boards as we go. So here we go to-day down the 
channel with a fine breeze and the sea as smooth as 
a lake and the sun out beautifully. We are all 
over our sea-sickness, and now the sailing is 
pleasant. 

" Tliursday, Feb. 18. — Last evening we sailed 
down past Dublin, but too far off to see it. The 
bay is beautiful, and we saw the hills round about. 
As we go down the channel we see sails in every 
direction, and old Ireland in the distance still, keeps 
in view. To-day we are beginning to get things 
put to rights — bed-rooms cleaned up— and things 



58 GEORGE PAULL. 

wear a more cheerful aspect. The breezes bear us 
down the channel at about four or five miles an 
hour. The sea is smooth, with scarcely a ripple, 
and the sun is out brightly and the day is almost 
as pleasant as spring. I spend most of my time 
now in reading. I have got hold of a volume 
of Rev. E. Erskine's sermons, which are rich 
and full of gospel marrow. 

" Wednesday, Feb. 24. — I have written nothing 
since the 18th, chiefly because we have been tossed 
up and down most of the time with squalls. At 
one time we had to furl our sails and lie to for 
twenty-four hours ; yesterday morning, however, 
we started on our way again at seven or eight knots 
an hour, but still the sea is tossing us furiously. 
Sometimes we are thrown from one side of the cabin 
to the other. Our soup John, the steward, brings 
us in bowls, and, instead of putting them on the 
table, w r e hold them in our hands. Our seats are 
two hair-cloth sofas — one at each side of the table 
— securely fastened to the floor. John is a good 
cook, and when the weather is fair, he gets up 
a fine dinner, with plum-pudding for dessert. 
But when the ship is tossing we take just what 
we can get : potatoes, cold meat and hard crack- 
ers — hard tack, as our soldiers call it — and, as we 



GEORGE PAULL. 59 

have no cream for our coffee, I drink mine in its 
purity, without sugar. 

tl The captain, who is a very pleasant man, about 
fifty-three years of age, gave me one of his caps and 
a thick monkey-jacket to wear when I go on deck. 
He shows me every kindness possible. The three 
young men (fellow-passengers) are all very gentle- 
manly young fellows. I preached on Sabbath on 
1 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners/ 
They were all attentive, and I hope the good seed 
may take root in some. The captain's little son 
Bob is a nice boy, very bright and intelligent. I 
am to teach him a little every day. We started 
from Scotland with two pigs, two birds and two 
dogs, but they are all dead except one dog; the 
other dog fell overboard, and the hard weather killed 
the rest. The severe gales have emptied some of 
our water-casks which were lying on deck, and it is 
likely we will put into Madeira to get a new sup- 
ply ; and of this I shall be heartily glad, for I shall 
have an opportunity of mailing you a letter, as I 
do not like the idea of your being in suspense till 
June. The floor of the cabin and state-rooms is 
quite wet again, and the deck is all the time covered 
with water — that is, the deck on a level with our 
cabin floor. We have another small deck over 



60 GEORGE PAULL. 

our heads. We are waiting anxiously for bright 
weather, to get dried out again, and I suppose at 
the rate we are sailing now, directly south, we shall 
soon be in a warmer climate. 

" Thursday, Feb. 25. — To-day at noon we are 
about 40° N: lat, and 18° W. long., about oppo- 
site the Azore Islands. We are driving almost 
directly south, with a strong wind, from seven to 
nine miles an hour. The captain says 6 if the wind 
keeps up we may reach Madeira by Saturday 
morning/ It would be a treat to get our feet on 
shore for an hour. There has been a ship in 
sight all day, sailing just ahead of us. In the 
morning we could see her topsails, and this after- 
noon we have gained so much on her that we see 
nearly the whole ship. The sun is shining a little 
to-day, and the men have their clothes out on the 
ropes drying. The wind drove us along furiously 
last night, and before the moon rose it was quite 
dark. Little Bob was out on the deck and saw the 
phosphorus shining in the water, and ran in 'to 
get the lantern to see the fish/ for he said he saw 
their eyes shining in the water. 

"I have been reading an account of the labors 
of John Williams, missionary to the South Sea 
Islands, and find it very interesting. I have Mof- 






GEORGE PATJLL. 61 

fat's travels in South Africa in the same volume. 
A great portion of my reading is in the Bible, so 
that I may be the better furnished for the work 
whereunto I am called. I count it the highest 
possible earthly honor to be permitted to go and 
preach the gospel to the heathen. My only trou- 
ble is that I feel myself to be so unworthy and so 
sinful that I am ashamed to lift up my face and call 
God my father. I feel sure that it is the Lord 
that has thus marked out my path in bringing me 
to the heathen, and I trust that one of the import- 
ant results in thus separating me from all the dear 
ones that I love in my own land will be that I 
shall be brought very near to God, and will be en- 
abled to walk very closely with my Saviour. For 
this I daily pray and strive. I feel that when all 
earthly friends are far away, and earthly comforts 
are few, there is no lasting joy to be found, except 
I find it at the Saviour's side. Pray for me, that 
this may be my only resort for comfort or enjoyment 
so long as I am a pilgrim here. 

"Saturday, Feb. 27. — To-day has been bright 
and sunny, and the sunset very, very fine. The 
sky has had something of that pale bluish tint pe- 
culiar to Southern skies. Still the air is uncom- 
fortably fresh, and we are anxiously wishing our- 



62 GEORGE PAULL. 

selves some degrees farther south. At noon to-day 
we were about ninety miles north of Madeira, and 
expect to see it to-morrow morning. The captain 
has concluded not to land there, because the water 
is so deep for anchoring in. He may stop at Tene-- 
riffe, or perhaps not till we reach Africa. We have 
seen vessels sailing in sight to-day, apparently com- 
ing from the Straits of Gibraltar — a bark and 
brig and schooner. The sea is quite calm again. 
This evening I saw several large porpoises darting 
through the water. 

" To-day I have been reading Moffat's mission- 
ary life in Africa. Truly, it is noble to endure 
such privations for the sake of rescuing the heathen 
from death, and making known to them a Saviour's 
love. There surely seems to me to be no possible 
doubt as to what was my duty in reference to the 
heathen. Ah ! would I stay at home trying to 
urge a few who know their duty to enter into life, 
when millions are dying for lack of the knowledge 
of Christ, and earnestly beseeching us to send them 
the word of life ? But I dare not say that the sac- 
rifice of home and friends has cost me no pangs. 
Keenly, keenly have I felt it, and yet my heart 
ought to swell with praise that I am called to so 
high an honor, for will not He that has called me 



GEORGE PAULL. 63 

make himself far nearer and dearer than ever home 
or friends could be ? So that I be faithful to Christ 
in all things, and walk closely with him, I shall 
have no lack of peace and joy. 

"March 2. — To-day we saw Teneriffe in the dis- 
tance. It is about settled that we are to land there, 
if we can get wind enough and in the right direc- 
tion to blow us into port (Santa Cruz) ; if we do, I 
shall have the pleasure of mailing you a letter. Our 
reason for landing is on account of water. All that 
we had in the casks is gone, and when the tank was 
opened they found that in some way salt water had 
got in, and it is too brackish to drink. We have 
been making very little progress for days, as the 
wind has fallen off. The sea is almost as smooth 
as glass, and we are creeping along at the rate of 
two miles an hour. The weather is now most 
delightful, as we have got beyond the region of 
storms. I think of you at home, shivering over 
your fires, while the wind and hail make doleful 
music without. But here the sun is almost too 
hot to sit with comfort on deck, unless you get in 
the shade of a sail. The captain, or i skipper y or 
'sea-dog/ as he calls himself — for he is quite a 
jolly old fellow — employs his spare hours on deck 
sewing sails or making pants for himself, or mak- 



64 GEORGE PAULL. 

ing table-cloths, as he came away without a supply. 
He treats me with every kindness, and readily ac- 
quiesces in any proposition for religious services; 
and now we have preaching on Sabbath, a blessing 
at every meal, and prayers every evening. It 
does my heart good when the old weather-beaten 
captain and the young men and myself bow to- 
gether around the altar of prayer. I preached on 
last Sabbath on 'If any man love not the Lord 
Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha.' I 
hope and pray that God will bless the truth to 
many of them. 

" On Sabbath morning we passed the Island of 
Madeira, lying among the clouds away on the dis- 
tant horizon. Yesterday we seemed to have fallen 
in with quite a fleet of ships, as five or six were 
visible on different sides of us. To-day there are 
no ships in sight. Yesterday I was unwell, and 
John brought me a cup of tea with mill: in it. I 
suppose he brought his ' old coo' to life for my 
especial benefit. On Sabbath last, by some process, 
he contrived to make us milk for our tea and coffee. 
But on Monday, when we asked him for more, he 
said, c De coo is chat till next Sunday again? So I 
suppose he is only going to give us this precious 
beverage on Sunday, unless we are sick. 



GEORGE PAULL. 65 

"Saturday, March 5. — To-morrow morning we 
hope to anchor in the harbor of Santa Cruz, the 
principal town on Teneriffe, one of the Canary 
Islands. For several clays we have been hovering 
around in sight of the island, but were kept off, 
partly by unfavorable winds, partly by calms, and 
for one day and night we had quite a severe squall, 
which drove us away a considerable distance. This 
morning when we went on deck the first thing that 
met our gaze was the lofty peak of Teneriffe (about 
13,000 feet high), covered with snow, and looking 
most beautiful in the morning sun. The whole 
island seems high, and the outline is rough and 
rugged. It has a population of 200,000 or more, 
and is about forty-five or forty-six miles long and 
about half as wide. 

" I am heartily glad at the prospect of getting a 
letter to you so much sooner than I expected, and 
glad w r ould I be if some stray letter from home 
could be put into my hands also. But I have faith 
to believe that you will all be kept in peace and 
safety. And I trust that I may have your fervent 
prayers to strengthen and uphold me for many 
years to come. It is a lasting comfort to know 
that, although far away from home and friends 
and all I love, yet we meet around the same throne 

5 



66 GEORGE PAULL. 

of grace; and in your supplications my name, I 
know, is not forgotten. I am anxious to learn 
about Aaron's fate, and yet my fears are the worst. 
Often since I left home have I seemed to meet him 
and hold converse with him in my dreams, just as 
we used to do when we were together. "Whatever 
you may have heard in regard to him or Uncle 
James, let me know when you write. How my 
heart will leap when the tidings reaches me in Af- 
rica that this bloody strife is ended, and peace 
again smiles on our land ! I earnestly pray that 
we may no more be called to mourn the loss of 
any of our friends swept away by the tide of battle. 
Jim and Jode are, I trust, now hard at their studies. 
I am proud of them, and look forward with high 
hopes to the time when they will become noble 
Christian men — ministers, I trust, missionaries, it 
may be. 

" I sincerely hope that pa's health will recover, 
and that he will yet be spared to us for many years. 
I almost feel as though I would faint in the labors 
which I am undertaking without his prayers to 
uphold me. 

" We have a long journey yet before us after 
we leave Teneriffe, but I have firm faith to believe 
that God will spare me to preach the gospel among 



GEORGE PAULL. 67 

the heathen. You will not have an opportunity to 
hear from me again till we arrive at Fernando Po. 
Much love ; and may you all be greatly blessed 
with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus, is the 
prayer of your affectionate son. 

"P. S.— March 7.-- We landed on Sabbath 
morning. I came on shore in hope of finding 
church-service to attend. I called on the Ameri- 
can consul, Mr. Dabney, and found there was no 
service. Found Mr. and Mrs. Dabney delightful 
people. They invited me back for tea and for din- 
ner to-day. They introduced me to Judge Dyer 
and his wife, from Chicago, Illinois. It has been a 
great treat to meet all these Americans, and they 
have treated me like an old friend. Mr. Dabney is 
of American parents, but has always lived among 
the Portuguese. Mrs. Dabney is from Massachu- 
setts. The American man-of-war St. Louis sailed 
into port yesterday morning. I have met all the 
officers, some of them at dinner to-day. I went on 
board this morning, by invitation of Captain Preble, 
to see Lieutenant Stewart of Union town, Pa. I 
found him a very pleasant fellow — spent two or 
three hours with him. The meeting with him 
here was quite unexpected, as I supposed he 
was cruising farther south. Everything here is 



68 GEORGE PA ULL. 

Spanish, and very strange to me. The climate is 
like July." 

To his sister : 

"Off Teneriffe, Wednesday, March 9, 1864. 

" This morning the sharp and rugged hills 
of Teneriffe are fading away in the distance, and 
we are again out on the ocean for a voyage of a 
month or more. We set sail last night about 
12 o'clock, having stayed in port one day longer 
than I expected. I have had a delightful visit 
on the island, particularly refreshing after my long 
imprisonment on the ocean ; and the sight of Amer- 
ican faces, with the warmth and kindness of Amer- 
ican hearts, has made it a visit that I shall not soon 
forget. 

" We sailed slowly into the bay in front of 
Santa Cruz, on Sabbath morning, and anchored 
about half a mile from shore. The appearance of 
the island from that distance was very barren and 
desolate, there being scarcely any trees on it, and the 
whole having a rugged appearance — -jagged peaks 
with little valleys between covering the whole sur- 
face, and these looking as if they had been burnt 
with fire. As there was no prospect of having ser- 
vice on board, I went ashore with the captain in 



GEORGE PAULL. 69 

hopes of finding service. When we landed on the 
pier we found ourselves in the midst of mulatto- 
colored Spaniards, many of whom came about us 
jabbering their half Spanish, half English, wanting 
to be our guides, and some would follow us wher- 
ever we went. One said to me, f You American V 
i Yes/ I said, and asked how he knew. He pointed 
to my square-toed boots as the indicator — for no 
body wears square-toed boots but Americans. 

" I went to the house of the American consul, 
over which the stars and stripes float, as he was the 
only person I knew of that it was probable could 
talk English, or give me information where I could 
find a church, etc. My Spanish guide — for one still 
stuck to me — led the way through the outer door 
and opened the second, which led me to the court 
within. The houses here, all built in the Eastern 
style, nearly all look alike, both of the rich and of 
the poor — generally two stories high, built of stone, 
and plastered outside with white lime. They are 
square, and the roofs all flat, so that the families 
can sit on them in the evenings. The court is an 
open square inside, thirty or forty feet long and as 
many broad. After going into the court, and up 
stairs into a gallery or porch which runs all around 
the house, and from which they pass into the rooms, 



70 GEORGE PAULL. 

I met Mr. Dabney and introduced myself. He 
took me into the parlor, and I told him what I 
came for, who I was and where I was going, etc. 
After talking a few minutes, he said he had left 
Mrs. Dabney at dinner, and she would like to see 
me. After speaking to her, he returned and 
invited me to dinner, where I met a cordial wel- 
come from her and a Mrs. Cogswell, their family 
governess. As I had been to dinner, I only took a 
banana by way of dessert. I was greatly pleased 
with Mrs. Dabney ; she is a lovely Christian wo- 
man, kind-hearted and pleasant. They have three 
children, but the two daughters, aged thirteen and 
fifteen, were away on a visit to some other part of 
the island. 

" After talking a while I left with a promise to 
come back next day for dinner. Mr. Dabney went 
with me to the hotel, and introduced me to Judge 
Dyer and his wife, of Chicago, now on his way from 
Sierra Leone, West Africa, where he had been acting 
as judge in the mixed court — a court established 
by the English and Americans for the protection of 
the coast against slavers. I found Judge Dyer and 
his wife very pleasant people. The man-of-war 
St. Louis sailed into harbor after the Florida, 
which had sailed out a few days before. I learned 



GEORGE PAULL. 71 

from Captain Preble and his son and the surgeon 
that Andrew Stewart's son, of Uniontown. Pa., was 
on board this vessel, second in command, and I had 
an invitation from the captain to come aboard the 
next day. All this was to me a very unsatisfactory 
way of spending the Sabbath, as I got no quiet or 
retirement. In the afternoon I walked out of town 
a short distance for the sake of being alone. 

"Santa Cruz is a peculiar looking place, 
altogether Spanish ; population, five or six thou- 
sand ; very closely built; streets not wider perhaps 
than twelve feet. But they have very few wagons 
or carts or carriages ; nearly all their transportation 
is done by packing on ponies, donkeys and drome- 
daries. The streets are thick with donkeys with 
panniers thrown across their backs and a Spaniard 
sitting on top. For packing stone they have a 
wooden frame thrown across the back of a drome- 
dary ; and on the back of one I have seen four big 
stones two or three feet long by one foot wide and 
thick. 

" Teneriffe was once famous for grapes and wine, 
but a disease of some kind has almost rooted out 
grape culture. Now they cultivate the cochineal 
very extensively, and vast quantities of potatoes, 
figs, oranges and bananas. The climate is most de- 



72 GEORGE PAULL. 

lightful ; a constant sea breeze keeps it moderately 
temperate. The people are lazy and dirty, and the 
town full of beggars. The upper classes, however, 
are quite fine-looking : nearly all have black hair 
and eyes and rather dark complexion. 

" I went aboard the St. Louis on Monday about 
10 o'clock, in one of her boats pulled by eight or 
ten mariners, and spent two or three hours with 
Lieutenant Stewart.* I found him a very substan- 
tial fellow. I met several other officers, all of 
whom I liked very much. We dined at Mr. Dab- 
ney's, had a fine dinner and a very pleasant time. 
Lieutenant Squires and Dr. Lewis of the St. Louis 
were there. On boarding the Elgiva I found that 
the captain had concluded not to sail foranother day. 
After spending the night on the vessel I went ashore 
next morning, and met Lieutenant Stewart and sev- 
eral of the other officers, and spent most of the day 
with them, after calling on Mrs. Dabney to bid her 
good-bye, and promising to write to her husband 
from Corisco. I think I never met a more pleasant 
and gentlemanly set of fellows than the officers of 
the St. Louis. In the evening we were rowed 
over together to the St. Louis, where w T e parted with 

* This gallant officer went down on the Oneida, near Japan, 
in 1871, bravely standing at his post of duty. 



GEORGE PAULL. 73 

a hearty grasp of the hand, declaring that we were 
glad to have met each other. I took dinner with 
Lieutenants Squires and Marsh at the hotel, one 
consisting of eight courses, conducted with great 
quietness and order. I enjoyed my dinner very 
much, after being so long accustomed to sea fare, 
though I did not partake of all the courses, nor 
very heavily of any. Thus ended my pleasant 
visit to Teneriffe. It cheered me, and helped me to 
go forward with good courage. So now I am on 
the ocean not expecting to see land again till we 
arrive at Fernando Po. 

"Saturday, March 12. — We are in the trade 
winds now, and the breeze is strong and fine. 
The air is quite cool since we left Teneriffe. We 
have very little variety on board the vessel — -just the 
same thing one day and again the same the next. 
Sometimes we meet a vessel, and yesterday we 
spoke one by signal flags — her name Verbena, 
from Liverpool to Hong Kong, nineteen days out. 
We telegraphed our name, where from and whither 
bound. By signal flags she said our name, Elgiva, 
was not in her book (vessel a new one), and asked 
us to spell the name, which was done. 

" I spend most of my time reading, sometimes 
studying at the Benga Grammar which Dr. Lowrie 



74 GEORGE PAULL. 

gave me, and teaching the captain's son one hour a 
day. I have read the missionary labors of John 
Williams in the South Sea Islands, also of Moffat 
in South Africa, and the life of Henry Martyn, 
and other volumes, all with great interest, and I 
trust with great profit. I have had many days of 
darkness and inward trial since I came aboard, but 
now the light seems to be breaking in, and I am 
able to rest with calm peace and confidence in God 
more than ever before. I have made the Bible my 
study, for it is the only fountain at which I can 
drink the living stream. I keep the large one 
that cousin Susan Lamb gave me always near, and 
it is a choice treasure. 

"My thoughts have been much disposed to cen- 
tre about home for a time, but not with any feeling 
of melancholy, for I have never had a moment's 
thought that it was my duty to do otherwise 
than as I have done, and all my desire, I trust, 
is to do as God would have me do, and to grow 
in grace and in the assurance of peace with God, 
and to reach the full and perfect stature of a man 
in Christ. 

" The captain found one of the sailors drunk the 
other day, and immediately put him in irons, hand- 
cuffs, and he behaved so outrageously and talked 



GEORQE PAULL. 75 

so terribly that he had to gag him. He found out 
that this fellow, with some others, had broken into 
the cargo and drank a barrel of ale in bottles. It 
was a miserable sight to see this man acting like a 
brute, cursing and swearing most blasphemously. 
I stayed in the cabin all the while, for I could 
neither bear the sight nor the sound. 

"March 16. — Our latitude, 15° north, and 
the sun pours down with no little power, though 
a constant breeze keeps the weather from being 
oppressive. The thermometer stands at 80° in 
the shade. We are now south of the Cape Verde 
Islands — ran between them and the coast of Af- 
rica. We could tell our nearness to land yester- 
day by the color of the waiter. When we are 
within soundings, or in the neighborhood of land, 
it is of a light bluish cast, but when out in deep 
water its color is very dark. We spoke another 
ship to-day on her way from Wales to the Phil- 
ippine Islands. The young men, or the 'lazy 
spoons/ as the captain calls them, help handle the 
signal flag. They are very pleasant, and ready to 
help at anything, but the captain is fond of joking 
them. They don't like the hard biscuit, and John 
has been making loaf bread ; but the captain tells 
them that he won't humor the lazy * quill-drivers ' 



76 GEORGE PAULL. 

any more; but they do pretty much as they please 
with the old tar. 

" I preached on Sabbath on i the danger of pro- 
erastination.' About the time service commenced, 
the mate came in and said the sailors would not 
come in. I was much surprised and disappointed, 
as it is in my heart to do them as much good as 
possible while I am with them, but I preached to 
the captain, the young men and mate. Next day 
I found the reason why the sailors had not come 
was because the mate (whom they do not like) had, 
in a surly manner, ordered them in, and then for 
spite they would not come. The vessel I spoke of 
is sailing alongside of us, about one hundred and 
fifty yards off*. She is a fine large vessel, clean and 
nice. The tw r o captains have been having a fine 
chat, but the distance and noise of the waves pre- 
vents them from hearing each other easily. I 
often look at these young men going with us to 
risk their health and lives in Africa for the sake 
of money, and think that if I had no nobler or 
more sacred motives to take me there, I should be 
at home among my friends. But then I think, 
again, if men are so willing to live in Africa for 
the sake of gold, a Christian ought to blush with 
shame that would not be willing to live there for 



GEORGE PAULL. 77 

the sake of souls. What a joy it would be if we 
could always live with eternity in view — so near in 
view as to make us forget the little interests of 
self and time ! I am persuaded that one of the 
greatest regrets, when we come to die, will be that 
we were not wholly and unreservedly absorbed, 
soul and body, in earnest efforts for the advance- 
ment of the kingdom of Christ. 

"Friday, March 18, 1864. — This morning we 
are sailing fast toward the equator — within 8° of 
it. The sun is almost directly over us, and pours 
w T ith warmth upon us, but the constant breeze keeps 
us comfortable. I have not yet felt it necessary to 
take off my winter clothing. We have a large awn- 
ing on deck, and under this it is delightful, cool 
and comfortable. We are now in the region of 
flying fish. We yesterday saw hundreds, or, I 
might say, thousands, rising up and flying before 
us like birds, as the ship sailed along, and skim- 
ming away across the waves like swallows for one or 
two hundred yards. They have every appearance 
of a flock of snow-birds or swallows at a little dis- 
tance. Some two or three flew into the ship and 
fell down on deck ; these Bob appropriated for his 
breakfast next morning. They are a beautiful fish, 
from six to ten inches long, slender and delicate, 



78 GEORGE PAULL. 

very much like a mountain trout, except the spots. 
They have two finny wings shaped like a snow 
bird's, which open and fold up right at the gills. 
They serve the double purpose of fins and wings. 
They have also two smaller fins farther back 
toward the tail. As the presence of flying fish 
indicates the presence of larger fish, the young 
men put out a line to drag behind the vessel yes- 
terday. They caught nothing, but some creature 
which we did not see tore away the hook and 
bait. We have seen some pretty large turtles float- 
ing on the top of the water. Yesterday Bob came 
running in to call our attention to some young 
whales which he saw in the distance. I suppose 
they were porpoises of a large size. I caught a 
glimpse of the back of one, which appeared to be 
as large as a big bullock. 

" 3fonday, March 21. — This is hot weather, but 
the breeze keeps one tolerably comfortable beneath 
the awning on deck. The trade winds have failed 
us now, and we move slowly, three or four miles 
an hour, and often less. AVe have reached the 
latitude of Liberia, 5°, and long. 16°, and we 
hope, God willing, to reach Fernando Po in 
about fifteen days. The sea is almost as smooth 
as glass, but neither bird, beast nor land is to be 



GEORGE PAULL. 79 

seen. The Scotch laddies spend their time in read- 
ing, joking with the captain and each other. We 
are all anxious to be at our journey's end. I 
preached to the men last Sabbath on the parable 
of the prodigal son. They were very attentive. 
After service I distributed some little books among 
them, as I had done before. They seemed glad to 
get them. To-day I finished Dr. Lowrie's i Two 
Years in India/ and on Saturday ' Fox's Book of 
Martyrs/ What a record of suffering for Christ's 
sake the last is ! Those confessors swell the mul- 
titude that walk in white before the throne, having 
been ' slain for the testimony of Jesus.' The noble 
army of martyrs praise thee, O God ! 

" March 25. — For several days past our sails 
have been flapping almost idly round the masts for 
want of air enough to fill them. The sun pours 
down so directly over our heads that at noon it 
makes no shadow, and the thermometer stands at 
90°. The sky is most beautiful, with its varied 
cloud-tints on a ground of most delicate blue. As 
night comes on the sky clouds up, and we have 
lightning and thunder and rain, sometimes in 
torrents. The young men have been busy trying 
to catch some fish, but have only got one, which 
the sailors call a bonita. I have never seen one 



80 GEORGE PAULL. 

more beautiful ; its shape is exquisite and its color 
a bluish purple. One of the sailors, Bob they call 
him — and a clever fellow he is — fell down with 
violent pain in his stomach. He has not been well 
all the passage, and I fear this will bring him to 
his end. Poor fellow ! how he did moan in agony, 
and said, c Ah, men, I am gone.' They took him 
to his berth and gave him medicine, and applied a 
mustard plaster, which gave him some relief. I 
went in and sat down by him, and tried to explain 
the way of salvation to him, and prayed with him. 
He thanked me heartily when I left, as did some 
of the other sailors who were in with him at the 
time. Poor fellows ! I wish they knew the way to 
Christ. I have tried to preach only Christ to 
them, as nothing else will be of any consequence. 

"I have finished the Life of Brainard, and am 
reading Flavel on 6 Keeping the Heart/ and my 
Bible and Greek Testament. For nearly a week 
we have been lying almost still, but yesterday we 
got a pretty good breeze and are now moving along 
tolerably well. I check all thoughts of impatience 
at the length of the voyage by remembering that 
to bear patiently whatever comes, and perform 
present duty, is serving the Lord just as much as 
though I were in Corisco. Part of every evening 



GEORGE PAULL. 81 

I spend reading and praying with the sick sailor. 
He is nearly well now, and I sincerely hope his 
sickness will be the means of bringing him to God. 
I preached on Sabbath on the ' healing of blind 
Bartimeus.' Some were very attentive. I hope 
some fruit may be gathered unto life eternal. 

" You are all daily in my thoughts and prayers, 
as I know I am also in yours ; and what does it 
signify though we be separated for a little while in 
doing the Master's w r ill ? It is only for a little while, 
and then we hope for an eternal reunion. My 
health so far, since I left home, is as good as it ever 
was, and perhaps better. I hope the climate of 
Corisco will just suit me. 

"March 30. — I took my old hat from my 
trunk to-day to w T ear on deck, and the sight of it 
filled me almost too full with thoughts of home. 
I trust you are all well, though even four months 
might make vast changes. In another week two 
years will be gone since the battle of Shiloh. 
Many a time have I thought of Aaron, and often 
dreamed of him, since I left home. 

"April 1. — I stood on the bow of the vessel 
for half an hour to-day watching the porpoises. 
They are about the vessel by the hundred, swim- 
ming along with us, sometimes jumping entirely 



82 GEORGE PAULL. 

out of the water, and then swimming with their 
back fins sticking up, giving the impression of a 
drove of mules with only their ears above water. 
Most of them are about six feet long, with dark 
skin, without scales, like the catfish. The young 
men shot at some of them, but that has no effect 
on them, even when the ball hits. The captain 
says it is eight hundred and fifty miles yet to 
Fernando Po. 

"April 4. — The first shark that we have seen 
followed after us nearly all day Saturday. The 
men tried to catch him with a hook baited with pork, 
but he was too careful. Two or three pilot fish 
were swimming with him, most beautiful little crea- 
tures, striped all over with purple bars, such as you 
see on the zebra. AVe are now almost immediately 
south of the dominions of the king of Dahomey, 
so famous for his inhuman cruelties. Had service 
yesterday. As I thought it might be our last on 
board, I spoke very plainly to the men on the 
1 strait gate/ They listened very attentively, and 
I hope and pray that some of them may enter in." 

In his private journal, under date of April 4, 
Mr. Paull writes : 

"April 4. — Spend the time reading religious 
books, and especially the Bible. Preach every 



GEORGE PATJLL. 83 

Sabbath plainly and pointedly to the men, but 
nothing save Christ and him crucified. Have done 
but little talking since I came on board. Others 
jest and laugh around me, but my thoughts have 
been engaged within. For many weeks I have 
been c eating the bread of sorrow/ because I have 
been in darkness and have had no light. All my 
sweets have been turned into bitterness, and I have 
walked on the borders of despair. I have been 
truly in the dark, and neither sun nor moon nor 
stars have appeared for many days. God grant 
that this may be the fire that shall consume the 
dross of sin wholly from me." 

On the subject of missions he next writes : 
" Some would turn aside from carrying on this 
glorious work by saying that God will not punish 
those who live in ignorance without the light of 
the gospel. But what then must become of God's 
character? He who is all good established a law 
which is upright and good. ' The soul that sinneth, 
it shall die/ Mercy may seek to let the trans- 
gressor free, but justice, immutable justice, cannot, 
must not, else it is no longer justice. Under the 
government of a just and holy God, death must 
follow transgression so surely as God is a God of 
truth, whether there has been light or whether there 



84 GEORGE PAULL. 

has been no light; but then, according to scripture, 
circumstances may mitigate the severity of that 
punishment for which death is a general term. 

" It is cheering to know that in some places, at 
least, the heathen are earnestly pleading for the 
bread of life — looking out from their darkness to 
catch the faintest dawn of the morning. It would 
do your hearts good to hear one tell, who belonged 
to a station on the west coast of Africa, how, the 
moment a vessel came to anchor, they all ran down 
to the beach with the anxious inquiry, ' Have you 
brought us a missionary ¥ If none had come, they 
turned away with sorrowful hearts. But if some 
one stepped forth and said that he had come to tell 
them c the story of the cross/ how they bore him 
away in triumph with a joy which knew no 
bounds. 

" We ought to make the world conform to our 
religion, instead of our religion to the world ; for 
Christ and his religion are paramount to every- 
thing, and ought to be esteemed by us above and 
before everything. The world and all its concerns, 
pursued for their own sakes, are the vilest dross in 
comparison with them. Our religion should be the 
life, the very heart-blood, of every action and pur- 
suit. If we ploughed and reaped, bought and sold, 



GEORGE PAULL. 85 

for Christ's sake, if the busy crowd that pass the 
streets were eager most of all to win riches and 
honor for Christ, what a heaven there would be on 
earth ! 

" Thursday, April 7. — We have no variety in 
our scenery here, except the change from sunshine 
to cloud, and from the smooth sea to one a little 
ruffled by the breeze. I am glad that the truest 
happiness on earth does not depend on outward 
circumstances, but upon the heart. Fix it on God, 
and then we dwell in peace among gathering 
storms or burning suns, or in the loneliness of the 
desert. 

" John, who is a great friend of mine, has been 
getting a large canvas bag made for me to put my 
mattress and blankets, etc., into, and every few days 
he puts a quantity of figs into my berth for me to 
eat ; and I also discover in my berth a bottle of 
preserved cherries, one of apples, one of plums, and 
one of desiccated milk. 

"Monday, April 11. — Nine weeks to-day w T e 
sailed from the mouth of the Clyde, and now we 
are one hundred and fifty miles from Fernando Po. 
This has been a long time to be on the water, and 
yet not longer than vessels usually are in making 
the trip. Last night one of the young men caught 



86 GEORGE PAULL. 

a bird about the size of a robin. It lit on one of 
the yards and went to sleep. A young shark was 
swimming about the vessel to-day, but as soon as 
they threw a line over with a piece of pork on it 
he swam away. 

" I preached yesterday, as I suppose, my last ser- 
mon to the men, on the first Psalm. I think I have 
never so desired, or striven so thoroughly, to preach 
the gospel plainly, pointedly and simply, as I have 
to the men here. I earnestly hope and pray that 
there may be some fruit. They have always been 
most attentive and respectful to me, though I fear 
they care but little for the gospel and for their own 
souls. One of these, however — Mr. McCormick, a 
noble fellow — I have noticed since Sabbath week 
reading his Bible regularly every night. Last 
night he seemed anxious to talk, and I got oppor- 
tunity to converse with him. He is quite serious and 
concerned about himself, and I earnestly hope it 
may end in his sound conversion to God. 

" I tried to think of you all yesterday as getting 
ready and starting to church, but when I think of 
you at any time I have to run backward six hours 
on our clock, as our time is about six hours faster 
than yours, so that when it is noon here you are 
just about rising. 



GEORGE PAULL. 87 

" Wednesday, April 13. — To-night, after a long 
voyage, we have cast anchor at Fernando Po. 
Early this morning John waked me up to say that 
it was in sight. As we sailed on the dim outline 
became more distinct, and at length we saw the 
green hills, covered with the most luxuriant growth 
of green trees and bushes. As we sailed into the 
bay, a most delightful odor of flowers floated off 
to greet us. Before we put anchor down a boat 
came off the island to meet us, in which was Mr. 
Murray, whom I had met in Scotland. He ar- 
rived here before us by the mail steamer. His 
boat was pulled by four Kroo boys, as they call 
them, the first native Africans that I have seen. 

" Thursday, 14th. — This morning we opened our 
eyes on a beautiful sight. We lay at anchor in a 
semi-circular bay of great beauty, and the beach 
all around us rising to the height of perhaps fifty 
feet above us. On this high beach the little town 
of St. Isabel is built. Behind the town the ground 
gradually rises till it terminates in a peak about 
10,000 feet in height. The island, so far as we can 
yet see, seems to be one of exquisite beauty, cov- 
ered with tropical plants, fruits and flowers. Cocoa- 
nuts I see growing in the greatest abundance on 
the tops of the tall, straight palm trees ; oranges, 



88 GEORGE PAULL. 

pineapples and mangoes also. The mango is some- 
thing like an apple, said to be very fine, but not 
yet ripe. Plantains and yams are here also. Al- 
though vegetation is so rank and fruits so abun- 
dant, the animal kingdom is but sparsely repre- 
sented. They have no animals except those 
brought from other parts of the coast, as a few 
sheep, goats, and little bullocks about the size of 
a large sheep. There are perhaps one or two 
horses on the island, but the climate is such that 
no animals can be reared. 

"The town of St. Isabel, the only one on the 
island, has about twenty houses ; these are occupied 
by the Spaniards, as they are the owners here. 
Their buildings are frame, painted white, and cov- 
ered with thatch, one story high, and open inside 
up to the roof, so as to look like a barn within. 
Although there are a good many Spaniards and 
some Englishmen, there are no white ladies here, 
except one, a niece of the old ex-Governor Lyns- 
lager. I went on shore to-day with the captain, 
and he introduced me to Mr. Wilson, the agent 
of Mr. Laughland, and also vice-consul. "We 
went around and took breakfast with him about 
10 o'clock; afterwards he took me to call on the 
ex-Governor and the Spanish judge. I am to stay 



GEORGE PAULL. 89 

with Mr. Wilson till I get away to Corisco, which 
I shall not be able to do for two weeks. 

"Tuesday, 19th. — On Friday, about 3 o'clock, 
Mr. Wilson and I started on foot up the mountain, 
some six miles, to see Consul Burton. The clouds 
seemed to promise us a heavy shower, and prudence 
suggested that we take a change of clothes; and 
thus equipped, each with a long African staff in 
hand, we set off, followed by four negroes — for 
negroes are plenty here- — one carrying Mr. Wil- 
son's matters, which he always takes with him, 
another our carpet-bags, another our umbrellas, etc. 
We passed through the town, which I found to be 
much larger than I expected, not having seen the 
most of it before on account of the numerous plan- 
tains, cocoanut and orange trees, in the midst of 
which the houses are built. There are, I judge, 
several hundred inhabitants in the town, chiefly 
negroes from other parts of the coast; and some 
of them have obtained wealth by trading, to the 
amount of thousands of dollars. The natives of 
the island are all proverbially low, and live out in 
the bush. Their houses are as good as any on the 
island, some of them handsomely furnished, too, 
even their tables abundantly supplied with silver. 

" After passing out of town we found an excel- 



90 GEORGE PAULL. 

lent road, made by the Spanish governor, leading 
up to Basili, where he and Consul Burton are now 
staying, and where the Spanish soldiers are quar- 
tered on account of their health. It is the only 
road on the island, and there seems to be no need 
of any other. The Boobies or natives have their 
paths, by which they travel through the bush. On 
either side of us we found the vegetation so rank 
and thick that breaking a path through it seemed 
an utter impossibility; the deep black soil and the 
constant alternation of warm sunshine and rain 
make tropical vegetation almost incredibly rank 
and luxuriant. The trees grow to an enormous 
height and size — the cottonwood especially — six or 
seven feet in diameter. One palm tree I noticed, a 
beautiful specimen, ran up to the height of ninety- 
six feet without leaf or branch, and its diameter 
(about eighteen inches) seemed to be the same at 
the top as at the bottom. We had constantly our 
ears filled with the chatter of crickets and insects, 
and the songs of birds, which we could never see, 
as they were hid by the dense foliage of the bushes 
and trees. We saw no wild animals or game of 
any kind, and there is but little on the island. 

"We crossed one creek and several smaller 
streams of beautiful clear water as thev came 



GEORGE PAULL. 91 

tumbling down their rocky beds on the mountain- 
side, reminding me of our own mountain streams at 
home. About halfway up the mountain we came 
to a village of Boobies. Their huts are almost hid 
in the bushes, being very low, and only a very small 
patch cleared around each one. They seem to be 
merely a pen, made by driving stakes in the ground, 
and roofing them with a thatch of palm leaves ; they 
are about fifteen feet long by ten wide and seven or 
eight high. The Spanish priests have built one 
or two good frame houses at this village, and are 
living among the natives, attempting to instruct and 
civilize them. These Boobies seem to be a sim- 
ple-hearted people, but very stupid. They wear 
no clothing, or, if any, a yard of calico would 
make it all. Their faces and arms are horribly 
disfigured by tattooing. We reached the consul's 
house, or Basili, as it is called, about 5 o'clock. 
The consul came down the steps to meet us, and 
gave us a hearty welcome, as he and Mr. Wilson 
are great friends. As we were quite wet he hur- 
ried ns off immediately to change our clothes, 
which we soon did, and came out with a good 
appetite for dinner after our walk of six miles, 
and an ascent of perhaps two or three thousand 
feet. 



92 GEORGE PAULL. 

"The captain is a very gentlemanly man, very 
intelligent, fluent and outspoken. He remembered 
Mr. Flenniken * and the boys, Thomas and Henry, 
and inquired very kindly for them all. He spends 
his time writing, very busily, and finds he can do 
much more up in the mountains than down below. 
The house he lives in is a very nice one, of frame, 
one story high, set on high posts, as all are on the 
island. As they have no horses nor mules nor cattle 
here, all the wood to build it was packed up the 
mountain by negroes. From the porch we had a 
fine view of the ocean and the harbor below, and the 
air was refreshing and delightful ; though I really 
have not felt it hotter here anywhere than in the 
summer at home. The captain has several negroes 
up there with him. I saw four little boys, about 
twelve years of age, which the famous King of 
Dahomey made a present to him. These, he says, 
he intends keeping to support him in his old days. 
After a lunch of tea and pineapple in the morning, 
we started down the mountain before breakfast, and 
the captain came with us a mile or two for the 
walk. His style of dress was rather primitive — 
a cassimere shirt without a coat, and his pants 
stuffed into his boots, and a broad - brimmed 
* Judge Flenniken, of Pittsburg, Pa. 



GEORGE PAULL. 93 

hat and a long staff completed his attire. We 
reached the consulate in time for a hearty break- 
fast, as we usually had breakfast between 9 and 10 
o'clock, and took dinner between 5 and 6 o'clock. 
I went off to the Elgiva in hopes of preaching to 
the men on Sabbath, but could not get an oppor- 
tunity. The Spaniards will not allow any Protest- 
ant service to be held on the island. 

" Wednesday, April 20. — I am spending my time 
most pleasantly at the consulate, where Mr. Wilson 
lives, and Captain Burton also when down from the 
mountain. It is a delightful place. The house is 
large, open inside up to the roof, walls and parti- 
tions well painted, and .the rafters whitewashed. 
It stands right on the high beach, overlooking the 
bay. Behind it is a large garden, in which are 
cocoanuts, plantains, pineapples, mangoes, etc. I 
have been treated with the greatest kindness and 
attention here as everywhere else. Indeed, it often 
melts me to think how God has raised up friends 
for me everywhere, who treat me with the greatest 
kindness and consideration, as though I had been 
one of their old friends all my life. Nothing is 
ever lost by being kind to others, and, indeed, I 
more and more feel that the less we live for self 
and the more for others the nearer we come to the 



94 GEORGE PAULL. 

spirit of Christ. ' He that saveth his life shall lose 
it/ and he that is willing to wear away his life in 
kind deeds to others shall save it. 

"Friday, 22d. — From my back window I see 
distinctly the Camaroons Mountains on the main- 
land, towering up to a great height. Captain Bur- 
ton ascended the highest peaks, and has written a 
book in which he gives an account of them. 
Mr. Wilson and I went down to have a sea bath 
last evening. Sea baths here are most delightful, 
as the air and water are comfortably w r arm. Three 
or four black ( boys ' went with us to carry towels, 
and mats to stand on, and Batanga canoes for us to 
sail in. These are quite narrow, and the least tilt 
will turn them over; but they are so light that a 
man will easily carry one twenty feet long. The 
boys, used here for everything, are Kroomen 
brought from the coast. They are good fellows to 
work, sprightly and intelligent, and generally stay 
from home a year. The natives do not often come 
in to town, except to bring their palm oil, which 
is almost the only product of the island. 

" In the way of living here, where ships come so 
often, w r e have almost everything that you have in 
civilized life, and the tropical fruits in addition ; 
bat the cost is greater — a little chicken, half a dol- 



GEORGE PAULL. 95 

lar; an egg, half a dime; beef, etc., in proportion. 
Most of it is sent out from England preserved in 
cans. All the cooking is done by men trained to it, 
so that the life of a trader here is very much like 
the life of a planter in the South. 

"Monday, 25th. — Our beautiful bay seems full 
of vessels, some of which have come in from differ- 
ent parts of the coast to await the arrival of the mail. 
We have some visitors on the island — three or four 
ladies from the Calabar mission, about one hundred 
miles north, on the mainland. They are all Scotch 
ladies. I thought to have preaching again on the 
Elgiva yesterday, but the captain did not find it 
convenient. 

" Tuesday, 26th.— Yesterday I had a most pleas- 
ant surprise. Mr. Mackey, from Corisco, supposing 
that I would be here, came up to meet me on a 
Spanish vessel which had been at Corisco. He 
says they have been waiting anxiously for me, as 
they are short of help. One of the most pleasant 
parts of the surprise was, that he brought my letters 
that had already arrived at Corisco* 

"April 28. — This morning our regular monthly 
mail came in, and brought me letters, so that I have 
had a great feast in the letter line. In Lizzie's letter 
of the 15th January, she gives the sad tidings of 



96 GEORGE PAULL. 

Aaron's death. May the God of all grace comfort 
you all ! I will write after I get to Corisco. I am 
anxious to hear all the particulars about his death. 
Mr. Mackey is off in the harbor, trying to get us a 
passage by the French steamer. If he succeeds, we 
go down this morning. Long ere this reaches you 
I hope to have entered on my solemn work, I trust 
with deeper, truer and more solemn views of life 
than ever I had before. May very many prayers 
follow me from the familv circle ! It will be 
another month before we hear from each other. 
Let each succeeding month find us more earnest 
in the inquiry, c Lord, what wilt thou have me 
to do?' and in our efforts simply to believe in 
Christ." 

The following letter to an intimate friend, written 
from Fernando Po, West Africa, April 26, 1864, 
evinces Mr. Paul's missionary spirit and care of 
his own Christian life : 

" Away across the wide waste, from all the dear 
ones that I love, I sit to-day where darkness is as 
the shadoiv of death ; and I would not have it other- 
wise. Not because I do not love my friends, not 
because it gives me no pangs to go down into and 
remain in the dark valley of this separation, but 
you know that I always felt and prayed that one end 



GEORGE PAULL. 97 

in leading me into the wilderness, as it were, might 
be my purification. And if God carries on his own 
work thus, in his own way, what are all other things 
to me in comparison to it ? I know I shall be the 
happiest man on earth if Christ in his fullness 
dwell in me, though my name should never be 
breathed beyond the borders of this dark land. I 
have had many dark hours since I left you ; indeed, 
for weeks during my voyage, no light, c neither sun 
nor stars, appeared ; 7 the waves and the billows went 
over me. I could not tear my eyes away from 
peering into that deep, dark pit of sin within me, 
although I knew well that no peace or light could 
come from it, and that Christ only could give me 
light. But most heartily do I thank my God for 
these days of darkness ; for you know that beauti- 
ful hymn, c I asked the Lord that I might grow/ 
etc. That is the way up out of darkness into 
light. I believe there is no other way ; and now 
my prayer is, My God, let the darkness come if 
thou wilt only lead me in it, and bring me forth 
into entire consecration to Christ. 

" I think I have only lately begun to see that in 
our religion we ought to be most terribly in earnest, 
even storming the kingdom ; for how else can we 
take it ? I hang my head with shame whenever I 



98 GEORGE PAULL. 

think how halfway I have been all my life, and how 
miserably halfway and undecided I always shall 
be, unless God take my case in hand. Do you not 
often find yourself forgetting that it is appointed 
unto us to enter into that strait gate by striving, or 
that we are to gain the crown by coming off con- 
querors — attacking, sword in hand, the armies of 
the aliens within us, searching them out diligently, 
and constantly slaying them one by one, till not any 
enemy remains to raise his voice against the reign 
of Christ within us ? 

" But about Africa I have, as yet, said nothing. 
Now, by the goodness of God, I have my foot on 
her heathen soil, and I humbly pray that it may 
never be removed until I be made instrumental in 
claiming some of her children for God. Without 
doubt death reigneth here. The trail of the serpent 
is deeply marked over all the land. The shadow 
lies so heavily on the land, that the courage and 
zeal of the strongest must fail if he rests on a hu- 
man arm. But I am glad and satisfied when I 
know that He whose word is power has promised 
that the Son shall have his inheritance here, that 
Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hands unto God. 
True, God has not said when this glorious consum- 
mation shall be brought about, but we know that 



GEORGE PAULL. 99 

the leaven which we put into the meal will work, 
though we see it not, and the bread (seed) which we 
cast upon the waters will bear the rich harvest 
(fruit), though it be after many days. 

" Give your little son a hearty kiss for me. I 
pray that he may be a lamb, carried in the arms of 
the great Shepherd. Try to get the love of Christ 
mingled with his very life, so that it may grow with 
his growth. Why ought we not to hope that the 
little ones, above all others, should be attracted by 
the sweetness and loveliness of Christ ? If we con- 
stantly present Christ to their little loving hearts 
in all the attractive features of his character, I do 
not know how it is possible for them to help loving 
him. They cannot but be melted by displays of 
love and kindness such as Christ has made; and 
if we keep these before them, they must sink into 
the heart and transform the life." 

Mr. Paull here uses strong language in recom- 
mending religious instruction and example as 
means of grace to children, yet he was a firm be- 
liever in the doctrine of original sin and total de- 
pravity, and the absolute necessity of the Holy 
Spirit's work in regeneration. 

To his father he writes whilst voyaging again 
from Fernando Po to Corisco : 



100 GEORGE PAULL. 

"On Schooner ' Estremadura/ April 29, 1864. 

" This evening Mr. Mackey and I bade farewell 
to Fernando Po, with many pleasant recollections 
of the kindness received from Mr. Wilson and 
others. Our next resting-place is on the little 
schooner which is to take us down to Corisco, a 
vessel belonging to Mr. Laughland, and running 
between his trading-points on the coast. Accom- 
modations for traveling here are but meagre, but 
one feels thankful to get almost any mode of con- 
veyance. Two of the young men that came out 
with me on the Elgiva are with us, going down to 
the Gaboon River. We four, with the captain and 
his wife, filled up the little cabin to overflowing, 
leaving scarcely any room to move. To relieve 
the monotony of his voyages the captain keeps on 
board two parrots and a Scotch terrier dog, and by 
the kindness of Mr. Wilson a little goat is added 
to complete the list. 

"May 1. — This morning we are sailing slowly 
down the channel between Fernando Po and the 
mainland. The channel is, I suppose, about forty 
miles wide. The winds are so light along the coast 
here that it generally takes a week to make the 
trip — two hundred miles. 

"We had service on deck to-day. As Mr. 



GEORGE PAULL. 101 

Mackey is feeble, I officiated. Spoke to them from 
the twenty-third Psalm. 

"May 4. — We have been sailing all the while 
in sight of the mainland, though five or six miles 
distant. There are few mountains, but the high 
hills run all along the coast, rising up behind one 
another tier after tier. There are no places of in- 
terest to be pointed out, no cities, no grand old 
ruins, but all is one wild wilderness save here and 
there, at the mouth of some river, you find a little 
native town. To-day we were amused to see a 
lone mariner sailing bravely by us — a bird near 
the size of a pigeon, perched on a cocoanut, or 
something of that size, riding coolly along and 
keeping his balance, never heeding the tossings of 
the waves as at one time they sent him up to the 
top and again down to the bottom. 

"Friday, May 6. — This afternoon my long 
journey is ended, and I stand at last on my island 
home, with a heart full of gratitude to God that 
he has preserved me in all my journeyings, and 
especially that he ever put into my heart to come 
and preach his gospel to the heathen. The captain 
anchored two or three miles off shore, and Dr. 
Nassau came off to meet us with a boat. As our 
baggage was considerable, one of the schooner's 



102 GEORGE PAULL. 

boats had to come off with us and carry part of it. 
Corisco is a beautiful little gem of an island, 
covered with verdure of the deepest green. All 
around it lies a sandy beach, white almost as the 
snow, over which the huge waves surge and break 
unceasingly. Mr. Mackey and I were in a boat 
together, and when we landed went immediately to 
his house, on a little eminence about one hundred 
yards back from the beach, and in full view of the 
sea and in hearing of its unceasing thunder-like 
roar. Mrs. Mackey gave me a hearty welcome to 
my new home, and now I feel once more as if I 
had found a resting-place for the sole of my foot, 
and could settle clown in quietness to my work. 
You will be glad to know that I am to make my 
home with Mr. and Mrs. Mackey. 

" And now I wish you could look over, for a 
moment, into Africa, and catch a glimpse of this 
home of beauty in the heart of heathenism. It 
would make you glad, as it has gladdened me. 
It would make you feel as you can fancy some 
traveler upon the sandy desert would were 
he to light upon a garden of blooming flowers. 
So this little home of Mr. Mackey's, l Evanga- 
simba/ has been fitted up with such taste that I 
never would desire anything more beautiful. The 



GEORGE PAULL. 103 

house is neat and large, with broad verandas 
running round it. The grounds are planted with 
fruit trees and flowers — the orange, lemon and 
lime, plantain, banana, eoeoanut, etc. In the little 
pasture lots about you see a pony and some cattle, 
goats and sheep, rabbits, ducks and chickens ; so 
that, in point of comforts such as these, there is no 
lack. They live here as civilized people do in 
America or anywhere else, I have a sleeping-room 
in Mr. Mackey's house up stairs, and a very nice 
study in a bamboo house in the yard." 

In his journal of this date Mr. Paull speaks of 
the Kroomen : 

" There is a tribe of Africans from Cape Palmas, 
called Kroomen, and known all along the coast. 
They usually hire themselves out to traders and 
captains of vessels, often ten or twelve in a batch, 
under a head man, who becomes responsible for 
the risk. These Kroomen are mostly stout and 
well built. They generally hire themselves for a 
year, and then return home with the proceeds of 
their labor. Most of this is plundered from them 
by the older ones, and with what is left they buy 
a w T ife. 

" Their heads are shaved in all fantastical shapes. 
Their faces, too^ are marked usually with a black 



104 GEORGE PAULL. 

streak down the forehead and nose, also an arrow- 
head at the corner of the eyes. They delight in 
strings of large beads around the neck and wrists, 
sometimes cowries and tigers' teeth around the 
ankle. Hardly any clothes except the loin-cloth 
and perhaps an old hat or vest. 

" They seem to drink water always after their food, 
and are particularly careful of their teeth, cleans- 
ing them always after eating, generally carrying a 
little wooden brush tied about their necks with a 
string. They talk broken English, most all smoke 
their short, black pipes, are fed on rice, and have 
their long-toothed wooden combs. 

"Monday, 9th. — Yesterday I went to church. 
The meetings are held in a large bamboo church near 
by. Dr. Nassau preached in English and one of 
the black boys interpreted it to the congregation, 
which was mostly composed of young people be- 
longing to the mission schools. They are as neat, 
nice-looking black children as I have ever seen 
anywhere. We had Sabbath-school in the after- 
noon. I taught a class of young men, some of 
whom understood English. At night Mr. Mackey 
preached or explained the first chapter of Ephe- 
sians in English, which was interpreted. 

" It did my heart good to feel that I was thus 



GEORGE PAULL. 105 

worshiping God in this land of darkness, and to 
know that he had at last answered my prayer and 
brought me as a missionary to Africa. Now, since 
he has done thus much, my unceasing petition is, 
that he will consecrate me wholly to him and use 
me entirely for his glory. It seems to me nothing 
can be done here without prayer, unceasing prayer. 
The minds of the heathen are so dark and igno- 
rant and debased that nothing but a ray of heavenly 
light can penetrate them. 

" There are, I think, twelve hundred on the island, 
which is about three miles long and three wide. 
The people live in little villages of a dozen houses 
or less, built near the sea-shore. Their houses are 
built of bamboo poles split in two, and tied one 
above another to stakes driven in the ground ; the 
floors are of hard clay. I see no difference between 
the natives here and the negroes at home, except 
that here they wear scarcely any clothes. They 
seem to be as apt to learn and as intelligent look- 
ing as any. They nearly all wear a heavy roll of 
small beads of various colors around their necks, 
and the women wear brass rings around the ankle, 
extending one above another sometimes nearly to 
the knee. 

" The old king was in this morning to see us. 



106 GEORGE PAULL. 

He wore an old dingy silk hat and black coat, and 
a large piece of light muslin wrapped around him 
extending down to his feet. He carried a butcher- 
knife in a sheath belted around his waist; so do 
most of the men. He wished Mr. Mackey to tell 
me that he settled all the affairs of the black men 
and his brother of the white men on the island. 
This was, I suppose, to give me some idea of his 
position. He is an amiable and quiet old man. 
They look with great interest and curiosity on a 
stranger. A great many have been in to see me 
and shake hands with me. When I am on the 
veranda I see many of them stopping to look as 
they pass. I observed one woman with a little 
child in her arms standing and pointing to me for 
a long time, trying to get the child to look at the 
stranger. 

"There are three stations belonging to the mis- 
sion on the island, one here (Evangasimba), and 
Ugobi and Alongo at different points. There are 
two excellent houses here (at Evangasimba), one 
occupied by Mr. Mackey and the other by Dr. 
Nassau and Mrs. McQueen. Ugobi and Alongo 
are occupied by native teachers while Mr. Clark 
and Mr. de Heer are away. Mr. Mackey has a 
carpenter shop, and native carpenters, who have 



GEORGE PAULL. 107 

been trained, making boxes, which are exchanged 
for goods to the traders. He has a store-house 
also, in which he keeps goods to buy food from 
the natives, and pay them for work, etc. Every- 
thing needed is sent out by the Board with vessels 
coming to Gaboon River, so that there is nothing 
to prevent our living comfortably. We have good 
coffee and tea and sugar, and sometimes goafs milk 
for cream, also excellent bread and sweet potatoes 
and goat's flesh, and fish and roasted plantains 
and tomatoes, rice, eggs, bananas and oranges, etc. 
There is plenty of corn on the island, so that we 
can have roasting-ears and mush and corn bread. 
So you will not, I hope, feel any anxiety about my 
personal comforts. I am as happy and contented, 
and am as well cared for, as I could be anywhere 
in the wide world except at home. Never for an 
hour since I left have I doubted that I was in the 
path of duty, nor ever have I been happier in my 
life than I am now in the contemplation of this, 
I trust, my life-work among the heathen. The 
climate here is delightful. The sun is hot, but it 
is easy to carry an umbrella. The nights are cool 
enough to sleep under a blanket. With the bless- 
ing of God, I see nothing to prevent me from en- 
joying good health. As this is the wet season, we 



108 GEORGE PAULL. 

have rains almost every day, but the soil is sandy 
and the water is soon absorbed. 

" Thursday, May 12. — To-day we had a meeting 
of the mission to consult as to what course I should 
pursue. They suggested that I go to the study of 
the language. Mr. Mackey has secured an inter- 
preter (Ubengi) for me at twenty cents a day. He 
is to come to-morrow, and I commence work in 
earnest. I have been trying to pick up a few 
words, and have about thirty. I am anxious to 
learn the language as soon as possible, so as to 
preach in it. 

"Mr. and Mrs. Mackey and I went up this 
evening after tea to the girls' school, kept by Dr. 
Nassau and Mrs. M'Queen. The Doctor invited 
us up to hear the children sing. They have about 
fifteen little girls, between the ages of seven and 
twelve or thirteen. They were all neatly clad, and 
as intelligent, nice-looking black children as I ever 
saw in America. You would never know them to 
be heathen if you saw them in a Christian land. 
Dr. Nassau led them, and they sang quite a num- 
ber of hymns, both in Benga and in English. I 
surely never heard sweeter singing. I thought, 
those of them who are saved will sing no less 
sweetly in heaven for having been born in a 



GEORGE PAULL. 109 

heathen land. They learn very fast. Most of 
them will commit a hymn by having it read over 
to them a few times line by line. This seems to 
be the truest and surest way of carrying on the 
work in Africa, by commencing with the chil- 
dren ; though even some of them, after having 
been trained up and made a profession of relig- 
ion, are led astray into sin by the heathenish prac- 
tices of those around them. Nearly all the little 
girls in the school are already betrothed, and will 
marry at about the age of fifteen or sixteen. A 
wife costs about one hundred dollars here, and they 
are very difficult to be got at that, for this reason, 
they are betrothed so young. Almost the greatest 
difficulty the missionaries have to contend against 
is polygamy. A man is usually looked down upon 
with contempt that has but one wife ; some have 
fifteen or twenty. It is said that yesterday one 
of the chief men on the island had three people 
killed because they were supposed to have be- 
witched one of his relatives who died a short 
time ago. This is yet the habitation of horrible 
cruelty. 

"Saturday, May 14. — Yesterday Ubengi came, 
and I made a commencement in the Benga. I 
have him with me from 8 o'clock till 11 o'clock. 



110 GEORGE PAULL. 

He is quite an intelligent fellow, and understands 
English pretty well. As there is no complete 
grammar in the language, nor any lexicon, I have 
to proceed by learning the words and the structure 
of the language from hearing him talk, and hav- 
ing him read out of the Benga Testament. If I 
am allowed to go on uninterruptedly with the 
study of the language, I hope to be able to preach 
in it in less than a year. But if I find it ne 
sary to take charge of a station, preach, etc., as is 
likely — for Mr. Mackey has about decided to leave 
for England in ten days — it may take me two 
years, or even three. 

" I see several varieties of very pretty birds fly- 
ing around, mostly small ones, and some of them 
beautiful singers ; and parrots in any number I see 
flying around over head. They are only visitors, 
having their homes on the mainland. I have not 
been around over the island much yet, as it is cov- 
ered with a thick growth of underbrush, and there 
are only narrow footpaths running through it here 
and there. The little gray pony (Mr. Mackey's), 
about as large as a yearling colt, is now in my 
charge, and I shall, perhaps, make a tour round the 
beach on him some day. 

"Monday, May 16. — Heard Mr. Mackey preach 



GEORGE PAULL. Ill 

yesterday to the natives. He makes the services 
very short, as the natives soon become weary. I 
taught a class in Sabbath-school, and at night 
preached in English, and without an interpreter, as 
most of those present (adults) were able to under- 
stand English. To-day we had a meeting of the 
mission to let Mr. Mackey get away to England for 
his health. It seems a sore blow to the mission, 
so weak before, and now the work to be done al- 
most overwhelming to those who remain. But our 
help is in God : * when we are weak then are we 
strong/ He may be just bringing us to our knees 
so that He may undertake for us. Besides the work 
on the island, there are stations on the mainland 
that must be visited and looked after. Dr. Nassau 
and I have divided the work between us. He will 
preach here, and I at Alongo and Ugobi. The 
business part of it we also divided, as that part has 
grown to considerable dimensions. They appointed 
me treasurer of the mission. There is about three 
thousand dollars' worth of goods on hand for the 
supply of the mission schools, to exchange for 
labor, food, etc. This comes under my depart- 
ment, so that if I had a good knowledge of bus- 
iness I could use it here." 

[It must be remembered by the reader that ordi- 



112 GEORGE PAULL. 

narily trade is carried on at Corisco by barter, not 
by money ; hence the necessity of goods with which 
to pay for labor or purchase supplies.] 

" Sunday, May 22. — It seems not an inappropri- 
ate use of this Sabbath evening to write you a few 
last words before my letters go, as Mr. Mackey 
takes them with him when he sails, to-morrow 
morning at 2 o'clock, for Fernando Po, to take the 
steamer for England. We have had a delightful 
day of Sabbath privileges in this African darkness. 
Mr. Mackey preached this morning to a full house 
of heathen, w T ho had gathered in because of his 
going away. In the evening Dr. Nassau preached, 
and we had one or two prayers after service, and 
an address from Mr. Bushnell of the Gaboon mis- 
sion, who came over yesterday to bid Mr. Mackey 
good-bye. 

" My health, I am thankful to say, is very good, 
perhaps never has been better. My sea voyage 
seemed to have so good an effect on me, that w T hen 
it ended I weighed one hundred and sixty-four 
pounds — more than ever I have known myself to 
weigh. I often think of you all, and greatly desire 
you to remember me continually in your prayers. 
Greatly do I long for entire devotion to God, and 
for the removal of everything in me which hinders 



GEORGE PAULL. 113 

the constant indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I am. 
happy and perfectly contented in the prospect of 
the work before me, and have no unhappiness or 
sorrow except because of the sin that is in me." 

To his parents : 

" Corisco Island, W. Africa, May 24, 1864. 

" Yesterday morning I accompanied Mr. Mackey 
to the beach to see him off for England. We all 
hope he may be granted a speedy return, for we 
scarcely know how to spare one from our small 
force. 

" My new business of treasurer commenced on 
Monday, which is the day for paying off the em- 
ployed with goods, and the natives who are not in 
any way employed by the mission, many of them, 
come to buy, and cannot see why they should not 
be accommodated. They bring money, while they 
have it, obtained from the Spaniards who are 
building on the island. Mr. Bushnell w r ent off 
this (Tuesday) morning to Gaboon in his little sail 
boat, about as large as a skiff; you would think it 
too frail a boat to navigate the seas. I went to the 
beach and saw him off. He is a warm-hearted, 
Christian man, who keeps his i lamp trimmed and 
burning/ 

"I had not been to see either of the other 

H 



114 GEORGE PAULL. 

stations (Alongo or Ugobi) on the island ; but to- 
day Dr. Nassau and I went over to Alongo, on the 
north corner of the island, three miles away. I 
rode the pony, but found it tiresome, as my feet 
reached almost to his hoofs. We traveled along 
the almost snow-white sandy beach, a broad and 
beautiful place to ride. All along lay sea-shells 
and coral and stranded seaweed, and the white 
surf with a continual roar broke on the beach and 
rolled almost to our feet. Alongo is Mr. Clemens' 
place, and after him Mr. Clark's, but in his absence 
a native teacher (Ibia) has charge of the school. 
It is a most beautiful place, on the highest point of 
the island, and with a full, broad view of the sea. 
This is to be my preaching place, and I made ar- 
rangements to commence next Sabbath. A good 
many of the people were met along the shore ; some 
of them had their nets spread out drying. These, 
I believe, are made of cocoanut fibre, and are used 
for catching turtles, of which there are many and 
large ones. They give us, as we pass, their saluta- 
tion, which is i Bolo/ or if they are saluting two 
or more, ' Bolani.' The reply you are expected to 
make is, ' Ai Bolo 5 or i Bolani.' This takes the 
place of our ' How T do you do ?' 

"May 25.-— To-day I have not done anything 



GEORGE PAULL. 115 

at the c Benga/ as I have been somewhat feverish 
since last night ; and when signs of fever show 
themselves here all study must be laid aside, lest it 
increase the fever. Two of the Spanish priests 
were over to-day from where they are building 
their house, to borrow tools and buy some things 
from the store-house. I was perplexed to under- 
stand them, and to get them to understand me. 
We are on good terms with them, and think it bet- 
ter, by all means, to live peaceably with them, if 
possible ; but it is not likely that they will let the 
peace continue after they are once settled. 

"I have not yet given you an account of our 
mode of living here, which I must do that you may 
have a better idea of mission life. We rise a little 
after daylight, and before the front door is open 
there will be perhaps half a dozen people about it 
with something to sell — eggs or cassada (which is a 
root of the nature of a yam or potato, and the 
children of the mission school are fed on it) — or per- 
haps they want to buy something, or maybe only 
want to sit a few minutes to look or talk. At 
half-past six the bell (which hangs at the side of 
the house) rings for prayers, and all about the 
premises are expected to come in. Mrs. Mackey 
then hears the girls recite a verse each in Benga> 



116 GEORGE PAULL. 

and then we have prayers and breakfast. At 8 
o'clock the bell rings again and all go to work, the 
carpenters in the shop and two men to cutting 
weeds about the mission grounds, the girls to their 
books, and I with my interpreter to the study of 
the language till 11 o'clock. At 12 o'clock every 
one quits work and we have dinner. I generally 
spend the afternoon in reading, writing and study- 
ing, and hearing the boys recite English. The bell 
rings at 2 o'clock for the men to go to work, and 
at 5 o'clock for them to quit, when we have supper. 
The men have thus much spare time to get their 
own food, which is generally a little fish and cassada. 
I try to go to bed here between 9 and 10 o'clock, 
for if we lived here with the same recklessness as 
in America life would soon go. The people come 
to trouble me through the day to get things from 
the store-house, but as it breaks up one's time to no 
purpose, Mrs. Mackey tells them to go away and 
come back in the evening or early in the morning. 
" May 31. — For several days my pen has been 
at rest, and I myself for most of the time laid on 
the lounge, with my first attack of African fever. 
I had only a slight attack, which lasted about three 
or four days, but did not confine me to my bed. 
Utter prostration and pain in the back, with head- 



GEORGE PAULL. 117 

ache, were the most uncomfortable features about it 
But with the plentiful use of quinine and other 
medicines, coupled with two visits a day from Dr. 
Nassau, I got over it in time to preach on Sabbath 
at Alongo. 

" I had a pleasant ride to Alongo on Sabbath 
morning, except that the tide was in so far as to be 
constantly dashing about the pony's feet and 
wetting mine. I met several natives on the beach, 
about one-third of the way up, and as I knew them 
I asked them to come along to church. They said, 
' Is this Sunday f I said, i Yes/ They replied, 
1 It is too far to go to Alongo ; we go to Evanga« 
simba/ I said, l Well, go to Evangasimba/ But 
one boy did trot after me to Alongo, and called out 
to the people as we passed through the little native 
towns, in language which I did not understand, but 
suppose meant, ( Come to church f at any rate, a 
good many of them came. 

" I had a very good congregation, composed of 
the boys in school (I preached in the school-room) 
and a good many natives. They were very atten- 
tive, more so than I expected, for you generally see 
them dropping off to sleep or yawning, or talking 
or going out. Ibia, one of the native teachers, 
who has charge of the Alongo school, was my in- 



118 QEORGE PAULL. 

terpreter. I found that I could speak with almost 
as much freedom and warmth as when I preach 
without the interruption of interpreting. I had to 
make my sermon quite short, as they soon grow 
weary. I preached on ' Christ Jesus came into the 
world to save sinners/ 

" When I started away on my pony most of my 
congregation (those who came up from the towns) 
came trotting after, laughing and hallooing to see 
the pony carrying a man. About a dozen of them 
followed me about a mile, just out of friendly 
curiosity and to get a good laugh. Sometimes, in a 
narrow place, and to keep from being caught by 
the tide, I had to put the pony to the gallop, but 
as I galloped they ran and kept up. At last they 
all went back. 

" When Mr. Clemens first commenced preaching 
at Alongo, he would tell those that he met on the 
beach that it was Sunday, and they must come to 
church, and not fish, etc. So, after that, they were 
afraid to let him see them fish on Sunday ; and 
when they did venture to do it (the women do all 
the fishing) a part would fish while the rest watched 
for him, and if they saw him coming they would 
scamper off, crying i Sunday is coming ! Sunday is 
coming !' Heathen soil is hard to cultivate, but He 



GEORGE PAULL. 119 

to whom belongs the seed will make it grow sooner 
or later, and I will sow in hope, and perhaps, 
sooner than we anticipate, the harvest will come. 

" I went down to Peter's town to-day, in hopes 
I had enough words to talk a little Benga to him ; 
but I made poor work of it. Peter is one of the 
head men, a kind of patriarch or head of a family, 
which he has gathered about him in a little town. 
His wives, three or four perhaps, and slaves and 
children and younger brothers make up a town of 
perhaps twenty houses ; only one room in them, of 
course. They are set about an equal number on 
each side of a street which is, I think, fifty yards 
long, occupying about half an acre, and beyond 
this limit is the uncleared bush and trees. Be- 
tween their houses you will perhaps see some plan- 
tain trees growing, and an occasional duck or 
chicken or goat or dog straying about. Peter is 
a little, short, gray-haired man, with a pleasant 
face and a warm heart. He met me outside, and 
led me into his cabin by the hand and sat me 
down on a chair. Presently eight or ten women 
came to the door to see c Pauloo/ and said ( Bolo/ 
and went away. He called in his little children, 
nice little darkey fellows, clad in a string of beads 
around the neck and two or three brass rings 



120 GEORGE PAULL. 

around the ankles, that was all. The little fellows 
came between my knees, and leaned back on me 
very confidingly, which would not have been dis- 
agreeable if they had not just been rolling in the 
sand and ashes. Their mode of blessing any one 
is peculiar. If an old man in America wishes to 
show his kind feelings to a little boy, he puts his 
hands on his head and says, 'God bless you, my 
boy P If an old African in like manner wishes to 
show his kind feelings towards any little fellow, 
he takes him by the shoulders and spits on the top 
of his head. This is with them expressive of all 
possible kindness. 

"I visited the old king, Elepa, one day last 
week. He is an amiable old man, has four wives, 
and seems to live in peace. I found him attired 
in a white muslin sheet hanging loosely about him, 
and wrapped around his waist, extending down to 
his feet. He also wore a striped cotton cloth. 
When we went the old man was sitting outside the 
door of his bamboo reception house, but, without 
recognizing us when we approached him, he imme- 
diately arose and went in to the back part of the 
house and sat down. We followed him and sat 
down also near him. He then reached out his 
hands to shake hands with us, expecting us of 



GEORGE PAULL. 121 

course to get up and go to him. He then became 
very talkative and entertaining. His head wife 
was lying on a bamboo lounge beside him, asleep, 
so he waked her up, and seemed a little chagrined 
at her being asleep. She opened her eyes and 
talked to us, but did not get up. His legs were 
loaded with brass rings from the ankle almost to 
the knee. 

" The king's house was only a single room, about 
twice as long as it was broad, with a floor of 
beaten clay, and open to the roof. The back wall 
was adorned with eight dusty pitchers, of two or 
three different shapes and colors, also two or three 
earthenware images, portable statues of Jack 
Spratt. There also he had a host of cheap wood- 
cut pictures, great and small, but all highly 
colored, also looking-glasses, framed, and hung all 
around the walls. These, with a table, two or 
three chairs, and some bamboo benches or lounges, 
completed the furniture. About the centre was an 
upright post, which supports the ridge-pole of the 
roof. It also answered another purpose : to the 
bottom of it was attached a chain, which was to 
secure their prisoners of war and witches. The 
old king got his padlock and showed us how to 
secure them. 



122 GEOEGE PAULL. 

" June 8. — It has been some days since I had my 
pen in hand. My attack of fever returned again 
on the seventh day, and so I was laid aside. Part 
of the time I had a very hot fever, but for the 
greater part no especial sickness, only a feeling of 
intense weariness, and inability to do anything, 
with pains in back, limbs and head. The remedy 
is quinine, of which I have taken a great quantity. 
It seems strange that this land, which is as the 
garden of the earth for beauty and for its delight- 
ful climate, should have an atmosphere so full of 
deadly poison. In all my life I have never been 
in so delightful a climate, and the pleasantest sea- 
son is just beginning to como. The air is always 
bracing ; I have never yet felt it in the least oppres- 
sive. At night I find it very comfortable under a 
blanket. I do not think the sun is nearly so hot as 
at home, and we have double the quantity of cool, 
bracing air. Fruits we have in great plenty, many 
of which I have mentioned already. 

" Everything moves along very pleasantly since 
Mr. Mackey's absence. Mrs. Mackey is a noble 
woman, very quiet, but keeps things moving like 
clock-work. Monday last was settlement day ; we 
settle and square up with all employed once every 
four weeks. They are all greatly disposed to get 



GEORGE PAULL. 123 

their pay before they do the work, so that I have 
to hold some of them back a little. 

" On Sabbath I went up and preaohed at Alongo. 
I did not have a very large congregation, nor do 
they ever turn out well unless you go round before- 
hand and tell them to come, and then very often 
they say c Yes/ but have no intention of coming. 
After preaching at Alongo, I stopped on my way 
back at Nqume's town and preached there. Nqume 
is the head man — an old blind heathen. He said 
Mr. Clemens had been his friend. I told him I 
wanted him to be my friend also, and the old man 
held on to my hand with a long and warm grasp. 
I told him I wanted to preach for him, and soon 
all the people of the town that were about came 
together in his house — about twenty in all. They 
squatted down on stools and wherever they could 
find a seat, and then Uhamba (the young man who 
interpreted for me) and I sang a hymn. They 
were generally pretty quiet, while I preached of 
c Christ coming into the world to save sinners/ 
Sometimes a woman, w T ho did not know, perhaps, 
that she ought to keep quiet, would say something 
out loud ; the rest would cry to her to i hush/ and 
we would have silence immediately. The wife of 
Nqume, who is a nice woman, attentive and serious 



1 24 GEORGE PA ULL. 

looking, said that once she tried to be a Christian, 
but not lately. I asked them all to come up to 
Alongo next Sabbath ; they said they would, but I 
must come that way and let them know when it 
was Sabbath, which I willingly agreed to do. 
There are, I suppose, thirty or forty such little 
towns on the island, in most of which the mis- 
sionaries have preached. Ah ! if the Spirit would 
only come and open these dark minds and make 
the truth powerful, we should see displays of the 
glory of God that would make our hearts rejoice! 
Never can they be moved from this spiritual death 
until the Spirit of God shall do it in answer to 
fervent prayers here and at home. 

" Yesterday was the day for giving out supplies 
to the mission, and you would scarcely suppose that 
our supplies here in Africa were the same as yours 
at home — flour, butter, rice, corn-starch, hams, ker- 
osene oil, etc. Attending to this gives me quite a 
little bit of merchandising on Monday, and affords 
me exercise and diversion. 

" I saw a beautiful flock of sheep at Alongo ; 
Mr. Mackey has some here also, but you would 
scarcely take them for sheep in America. They 
are real sheep, however, except the wool, of which 
they have not a particle, but instead they have a 



GEORGE PAULL. 125 

beautiful, glossy coat of hair. Their skins look 
exactly like the skin of a young calf, and they are 
of every color — red, black and spotted. They would 
be a novelty in America. 

" Thursday, June 16. — This evening I had prom- 
ised Andiki, the native teacher who has charge of 
the school at Ugobi, to come up and preach there, 
so I mounted our pony at dusk and paced up along 
the beautiful white sandy beach about a mile and a 
half to the place. The ride was delightful, espe- 
cially coming back, as it was a beautiful moonlight 
night, and the breeze was blowing fresh and balmy 
from the sea, and the tide was far out, which left a 
broad white beach. As I told you, there are no 
roads on the island except narrow footpaths, so 
that the only road is along the beach, and indeed 
there is no other needed, for all the little towns 
are built around the island near to the beach. As 
I got up before the time, I took a walk through 
one or two of the towns near by. The men and 
women were sitting about the doors of their cabins, 
and although I do not know that I had ever seen 
any of them before, almost all came to shake hands 
with me, saying i Bolo, Pauloo/ As I had picked 
up a little of their language, I told them all to 
come to church, which they said they would do. 



126 GEORGE PAULL. 

"At the usual hour Andiki rang his bell, and 
quite a little congregation gathered, forty or fifty 
in all ; three of the women were professors of re- 
ligion, and some others had been. They were very 
attentive while I preached. I preached to them 
about the value of their souls, and their awful state 
when lost, and tried to point out the way to save 
them. I expect to commence preaching next week 
around through their towns — it is not enough to 
preach only on the Sabbath. I pray that God 
may give me a terrible earnestness in my work 
here. I have been feeling, myself, most deeply, 
the truths that I preach to them about the soul, 
and I hope and pray that multitudes of them may 
be saved from a dreadful hell. It seems unac- 
countable to me, sometimes, that we can rest in 
peace for a moment, until w T e are sure that we and 
our friends have made sure work of our escape 
from the dreadful miseries of hell. Well assured 
am I, as that the sun shines, that all these terrible 
declarations in the Bible are true, and yet who 
would suspect, from the way in which we live, 
that w T e believed them? It is no easy matter to 
escape the flames. If our religion sits easy 
upon us, and our sins never trouble us, surely 
it is time to be alarmed." 



GEORGE PAULL. 127 

In his journal of June 25 Mr. Paull writes : 
" Press on to the kingdom — no looking back 
here — press right on, with courage firm and strong. 
Cut off the things that are behind ; they are no 
longer ours; you have solemnly disowned them. 
Reach forth to the things that are before; they 
shall be your inheritance. You are a ' pilgrim 
and stranger.' Now, this land is not yours ; you 
have no interest in it, nor in things about you ; you 
are hurrying through, only tarrying for the night ; 
to-morrow you journey on again. Be convinced 
of your 'pilgrim character/ let it sink into your 
heart, i say it ' in all your life ; for they that say 
such things declare plainly that they seek a coun- 
try — that they are pressing on hard after it, care- 
less of all that is behind, i unmindful of the coun- 
try whence they came out.' 

" There can be no such thing as earnest pressing 
on to the kingdom while our eyes are turned back- 
ward ; they must be thoroughly and eagerly fixed 
on the kingdom to which we move. Lot's wife 
was fleeing to the mountains, while her eyes and 
her heart were yearning for Sodom; this was no 
escaping from destruction, this was i staying in 
Sodom f and she perished by the way. As the 
plough moves, our hands must be upon it, and 



128 GEOEGE PAULL. 

our eyes and our thoughts must go with it; if 
not, then we are not fit for the work, and our life 
is a lie. 'No man, having put his hand to the 
plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom 
of God.' O Saviour ! how shall we ever reach 
thy kingdom, unless thou wilt knit our souls to 
thine, unless thou wilt lift up our whole beings, and 
centre them intensely upon thyself?" 

Here we see the workings of Mr. PaulPs inner 
life, how ardently he desired entire consecration to 
Christ and his service. No wonder that one whose 
heart burned with such longings for complete con- 
secration to his work should be willing to encoun- 
ter perils by sea and by land to repeat the story of 
the cross to the perishing in Africa. 

Under the same date he writes to his sister : 
" About a week since we despatched our mails, 
and already I have begun to write again for the 
next. This is to save me the perplexity of crowd- 
ing all my letter- writing together at the last. 
And then, too, every day as it glides along may 
have some little incidents which, if not gathered 
up as they pass, will be pressed aside by others and 
forgotten. But you will not look for much variety 
now, as, instead of being tossed on the tide, I am 
becoming settled in life, and my duties and diver- 



GEORGE PAULL. 129 

sions are gradually falling into their daily regular 
round. Almost the only changes, too, one feels called 
on to note in so small and unimportant a world as 
ours is here, are his own ever-varying moods 
within, or the success or failure of his plans with ref- 
erence to others without. These, while they are al- 
ways fraught with absorbing interest to himself, are 
generally of but little importance to others. But 
I will always write, taking it for granted that what 
I write will be at least of some interest at home, 
I begin to see now how it is that, of all things for 
a man, solitude is sometimes the best. When he is 
cut off from the world without, he begins to explore 
more diligently and to become better acquainted with 
the world within. He begins to find that there is a 
vast unknown there, filled with mysteries of which 
he had never dreamed. If a man is driven to 
look much within, he will see strange sights and 
hear strange sounds, and shrink away from behold- 
ing many a gloomy, fearful picture. His life, too, 
may become a strange mixture of gloom and glad- 
ness, and continual interchanging of sunlight and 
shadow. But all this would be to any man a rich 
and royal blessing, a princely gift at the hands of 
God, tending to make one wiser and purer and 
truer. Natures such as ours can never be cleansed 

9 



130 GEORGE PAULL. 

from their dross without passing through some sort 
of fire. 

" June 28. — One part of a day since I last wrote 
I spent pleasantly reading, etc., down in a little 
rocky cave by the sea amid the incessant roar of 
the waves and dashing of the spray. I love to sit 
there in my leisure hours and read and think 
while all is so secluded and quiet — no noise save 
the thunder of the surf as it breaks on the shore. 
Occasionally I lift up my eyes in this quiet nook 
(it faces the sun), and look away to the westward, 
trying to arrange in my mind a picture of things 
as they may be at home. 

" Most of my days, however, I spend in my bam- 
boo house, studying, reading, writing, etc., or, when 
not doing that, attending to the business of the 
mission, which occasionally takes several hours of 
the day. This morning, for instance, I spent send- 
ing off a big boat to Iloby — an island near where 
some traders have their factories — loaded with 
twenty -five pine chests, which the boys working in 
the shops had made. These chests we exchange 
with the traders for supplies, and they sell them 
to the natives. 

" One day last week I got on the pony (Charley), 
and taking Uharaba, went away four or five miles 



GEORGE PAULL. 131 

off on the other side of the island, to visit some 
towns that belong to my charge at Alongo. I was 
at five or six towns, and preached at one and in- 
vited all of the people to come to church, which 
they said they would do. But, unfortunately, they 
think it but little harm to tell a lie, and so, when 
Sabbath came, they had forgotten their promise. I 
do not think they can be reached without going to 
their towns and preaching to them there, and I in- 
tend to do this, though I believe it has not been 
customary. The people were all glad to see me, 
and the women clattered away with their tongues, 
each seeming to try who could speak the loudest. 
Many said, 'He is like Mr. Clemens/ and then 
their usual message was that they wanted me to be 
good to them. At one of the towns about a dozen 
of the men and women followed me down to the 
beach, and told Uhamba that they w T anted me to let 
them see Charley run ; so I gave him a little gallop, 
and they stood and watched, as much pleased as 
children with Charley's nimbleness. 

" This was a very pleasant day's ride to me, both 
on account of seeing the people and some parts of 
the island that I had not seen before. Quite a num- 
ber of pretty little squirrels crossed my path, some- 
thing like our ground-squirrels, but a little larger ; 



132 GEORGE PATJLL. 

also some beautiful birds of a deep rich blue color, 
aud one African dove which was beautiful in shape 
and size and gentleness of appearance, like our own, 
but of a darker color on the back, with the under 
part of its neck and breast white. About most of 
the towns I see a little flock of goats and of hairy, 
spotted sheep. The children know Charley all 
over the island, and often the first noise that I 
would hear on coming near a town would be from 
some of the children that had caught a glimpse 
of him, with their noisy greeting, ' Oh, Charley ! 
Oh, Charley !' 

" I had my sermon already prepared for preach- 
ing at Alongo on the next day (this was Saturday) ; 
but as I rode along, that text, ' God so loved the 
world that he gave his only begotten Son/ etc., came 
into my mind so fully, and with such comfort to 
myself, that I determined to take it, and prepared 
a sermon and came home and preached it the next 
day. Uhamba, who is a member of the church, 
interprets for me when I preach. My other inter- 
preter is a suspended church member, and has been 
guilty of several grievous sins ; so that I do not 
think it is right, either for his sake or the gospel's, 
to allow him to meddle with so sacred a business. 
He says, however, that he is praying and wishes to 



GEORGE PAULL. 133 

repent and return to his profession. I hope he is 
sincere. 

"Uhamba is a very decent fellow, and wears 
a clean shirt and a pair of pants, which is full 
dress; but when he came on Sabbath morning 
to go with me ; I noticed that he had on a filthy 
shirt that he had worked in a week, perhaps, 
and a dirty piece of gingham wrapped about him, 
reaching from his waist to his feet. I thought it 
very strange, but found that a friend of his had 
died the night before, and that this is the African 
badge of mourning — to go as dirty as you possibly 
can. 

"I had a good congregation at Alongo, though not 
the tenth of those that promised to come. I had a 
great deal of freedom in preaching. On my way back 
I preached at Iduma's town. He is one of the rich 
men on the island, and has about twenty wives. I 
preached to him and most of his wives with all the 
earnestness and solemnity that I had, and I trust 
they felt some of the truths that were spoken. 
They seemed very solemn and attentive. I have a 
confident expectation of seeing many of these dark 
children of sin yet coming to Christ, and the thought 
greatly encourages me, for it is God's work and 
his arm is not shortened, and he has bidden us 



134 GEORGE PAULL. 

pray and wait and expect a blessing; and if we 
do these things, why should we not expect it, not 
timidly, but firmly f" 

Here is a letter of Mr. PaulPs to his younger 
brother which will give some idea of Africa and 
of heathen life : 

" Corisco, June 30, 1864. 
" I have been looking for a letter from you tell- 
ing me that you have been studying hard all win- 
ter and were anxious to be at it again, and that 
you were determined to be a fine scholar and a 
noble and good man. I know that you do study 
well and faithfully, and it has made me proud of 
you and given me high hopes that I shall one day 
be prouder yet of what you will be and do. You 
will not let me be disappointed. You must settle 
it first of all in your mind, if you wish to become 
a true and noble man, that you will not be ashamed 
to be good, even if every one around you laughs 
and sneers. You are not to care for what any one 
says, if you know that you are doing right, any 
more than you care for the bark of a dog. Deter- 
mine, then, in your own mind, noiv, that you will 
be kind to everybody, and that you will try to love 
everybody and do everybody some good, even if 
it puts you to inconvenience; that you will neither 



GEORGE PAULL. 135 

do nor think anything under any consideration 
that you know to be wrong; that nobody shall 
make you ashamed to read the Bible often, and to 
pray often, and to think often about God. If you 
do these things, you will become a true and a noble 
man, and I do sincerely pray that you may never 
be anything else ; and so you must begin now. Go 
every day to some quiet place, and there kneel 
down and solemnly give your heart to God and 
ask him to come and make it his home. You and 
Jim are daily in my thoughts and also in my pray- 
ers, and I hope that you do not forget to pray for 
me also. 

"Yesterday I had a little trip that I suppose 
would have interested and delighted you, if you 
had been here. In the morning Dr. Nassau came 
to my study and said that he and Mrs. McQueen 
and the schoolgirls (for it was vacation) were going 
round to the other side of the island in the after- 
noon to gather shells, and asked me to go along. 
So we started about 1 o'clock, the doctor on foot, 
for he prefers walking, Mrs. McQueen in a ham- 
mock slung by a pole lying across two men's 
shoulders : this is a very common way of trav- 
eling in Africa; I went on Charley. He and I 
have become quite close friends, and we generally 



136 GEORGE PAULL. 

go together. He is an affectionate little fellow, but 
sometimes I have to box his ears for biting me, as 
he loves to nip everybody that comes in his way, 
and scarcely one of the natives will go within a 
rod of him. We went along the beach until we 
came to Ugobi, and then we took one of the native 
footpaths that run through the bush across the 
island. After winding along the path for a while 
and crossing a marshy creek or two, suddenly we 
came on to the most refreshing spot I have seen in 
Africa. It was a long, narrow meadow, level as a 
floor and covered with green grass. It was about 
a mile long and from about one hundred to three 
hundred yards wide. Beautiful palms and other 
trees lined it all along on either side. As we rode 
through it I almost fancied that the next turn would 
bring us to some beautiful dwelling with all the 
accompaniments of civilized life, for this little 
meadow has such a thoroughly civilized appear- 
ance in comparison with the wild bush that is 
around us everywhere else. When we got to the 
end of the meadow, we came again upon the sea- 
shore, at the spot to which we were going, and a beau- 
tiful, broad, white sandy beach it was. From it we 
could see the mainland and Iloby and another little 
island. While we gathered sea-shells, which lay 



GEORGE PAULL. 137 

thick along the shore, scores of parrots flew scream- 
ing over our heads, and occasionally a large eagle 
would swoop down and sail just a little bit over 
oui**heads, while cranes and gulls and other sea- 
birds waded about in the edge of the water or 
sailed around in the air above us. After spending 
an hour or two and gathering a good many shells, 
we came back a good deal wearied. The shells 
that the girls gathered Mrs. McQueen gave me to 
increase my stock, and you may perhaps see some 
of them one day. 

" We have a few white men come to see us occa- 
sionally, and they all like to come here, for there 
is scarcely any place along the coast that looks so 
homelike and comfortable, and when there are 
any sick men at Iloby or on any vessels that come 
about here, they are generally sent to Corisco for 
Mr. Mackey and Dr. Nassau to cure up. We had 
three or four visitors from Iloby the other day : 
they took dinner and went away again. One was 
young Watson, who came out with me in the El- 
giva ; another was a Dutch captain by the name of 
ITenert — quite a pleasant fellow. He told an 
anecdote of one of our Corisco black men that he 
had seen somewhere to show how they make mis- 
takes sometimes. Peter (the black man) is an old 



138 GEORGE PAULL. 

man, and has a son called Bobe. Bobe had been 
away somewhere; and supposing Captain Henert 
might have seen him or known something about 
him, the old man said, i Did you see my father, 
Bobe?' 'Why/ said Captain Henert, 'you are 
an old man and Bobe is a young man ; Bobe can- 
not be your father: he must be your son.' 'Oh 
yes/ said the old man ; ' well, now I think that is 
it — yes, he my son Bobe.' This, however, is only 
a mistake of the poor old heathen : there is no harm 
in that; and perhaps there is nothing wrong in 
being amused at it. But there are some things 
said and done by the heathen that bring no pleas- 
ant feelings — drive away everything, indeed, but 
grief and sorrow. 

" I told you some time ago of two or three per- 
sons on the island who had been killed under sus- 
picion of having bewitched some man that had 
died. Now there is another old man about to die 
who has asked the people, in case he dies, to kill 
some one on suspicion of having bewitched him. 
This is the father of Andiki, one of the native 
preachers. And yesterday, too, although it is 
almost too revolting to speak of, a man that lives 
right by here came to the house and asked Mrs. 
Mackey for some poison to give to his mother. 



GEORGE PAULL. 139 

He said she had been sick a long time and would 
not get well, and that he had to stay at home and 
take care of her, and he did not want to be so 
closely confined, but wanted to get away. Dr. 
Nassau saw him afterward and talked to him, 
but he said that he did not know that that was 
anything the white man thought wrong. So you 
see how pitiable a thing it is to be a heathen. 
They have no government here, no laws, no 
courts to try and sentence criminals, no officers 
to punish them. Every man does as he pleases, 
and they indulge in almost every sin and commit 
almost every crime. Do you think you could 
spend your life in any more useful way than by 
coming out here, after a while, to teach these poor 
people how to live and how to die? Keep this 
object before you while you study, and ask God to 
make you fit to tell these people, who are so mis- 
erable, how they may be happy. This would be 
far better and make you far happier than living a 
life of sin, or a life of pleasure, or spending your 
life in making money. I want you and Jim both 
to be missionaries. Think of it often, and settle it 
in your minds that, if God will send you, you will 
go. I know of no way in which you could do 
more good." 



140 GEORGE PAULL. 

Mr. PaulPs next letter was to his father, and, 
written on the anniversary of our national inde- 
pendence, it contains a few thoughts in reference 
to that memorable event. 

u Corisco, July 4, 1864. 

"I do not remember certainly that I have 
written to you individually since I left Scotland. 
My letters heretofore have been in journal form, 
and rather intended for all than for any one in 
particular, and even yet I think I will jot down 
things usually in the same way, just as they 
happen, or as thoughts occur to me ; but this time 
I have departed from my ordinary plan. 

"The 4th of July calls up many recollections 
that are pleasant and many faces that are familiar, 
and my fancy carries me to where I seem to see 
you all honoring the day, perhaps by some social 
reunion, it may be a family ' pic-nic/ or joining in 
some more public celebration. Here it passes 
away as other days, save that we each one remem- 
ber it, and take pride in it as a day of gladness at 
home, but otherwise there is nothing outward to 
mark it. I have spent most of the day in attend- 
ing to the business of the station, settling up with 
the men employed, which is done monthly, giving 
out supplies from the storehouse, having our boats 



GEORGE PAULL. 141 

painted, etc. I usually give Mondays to the bus- 
iness of the station, and an hour on other days, 
when it is necessary. Dr. Nassau has even con- 
siderably more business than I have of this kind. 
We were also at the funeral of an old headman 
to-day who was buried in our graveyard because 
of his son's having been connected with the mis- 
sion; he was still a heathen, however. We did 
not allow any of the heathen ceremonies at the 
grave, but Dr. Nassau prayed and made a short 
address. 

" We have been on the anxious lookout all day 
for the mail, as this was the day on which we cer- 
tainly expected it, but there is no sign of it yet, 
and we begin to give up all hope until to-morrow 
or next day. This is one of our greatest disap- 
pointments here, when the mail fails us at the time 
when we expect it. 

"Yesterday I sat down for the first time with 
the native Christians here as they gathered around 
the table of the Lord. There were not very many 
of them, perhaps twenty in all, and three of them 
were coming for the first time; once there were 
many more, but, alas ! one and another has turned 
away into sin ; and this is the saddest part of all 
the missionary work, to see the devil lead captive 



142 GEORGE PAULL. 

and triumph over those who once seemed to be free 
from his fetters. At the communion seasons, which 
occur every three months, all of the members, both 
on the island and at the stations on the mainland, 
are expected to be present, and the whole number, 
I think, is near seventy. But many of them for 
various reasons were kept away this time. Dr. 
Nassau conducted the services ; I preached the pre- 
paratory sermon on the day before. I do not see 
any special features of encouragement in the work 
here now — indeed, several things almost make it 
have a gloomy aspect, especially the fewness of our 
numbers in the mission, the falling away of some 
of the native members and a general coldness and 
indifference on the part of most, though I have 
sometimes, when hope was buoyant, been tempted 
to look on these things as almost encouraging, for 
God generally chooses a time to work when the 
glory will be manifestly all due to himself. It 
seems to be such a time now, for if light and life 
and strength spring up out of this darkness and 
death and weakness, all must surely fill their 
mouths with songs of praise and say, i It is of 
the Lord; to him alone be all the glory for ever. 
Amen/ 

"Tuesday, 5th. — This afternoon I spent very 



GEORGE PAULL. 143 

pleasantly among my Alongo people. After rid- 
ing about three and a half miles I stopped at 
one of the little towns and talked with the people, 
telling them that I would preach for them if they 
would call in some more people from one or two 
towns near by, which they did, and I had a very 
nice little congregation. They were very attentive 
to all I said to them of ' God's love in sending his 
Son to die for sinners lost and wretched/ Some of 
them listened with most fixed attention. I noticed 
a great talking among them after preaching, and 
Uhamba told me they were saying, i That was a 
true word that was told them/ This evening the 
mail came that we had been so anxiously looking 
for, and we opened it with eager hands to get at 
the precious contents of news from home and 
friends, for so far as earthly pleasures are con- 
cerned here, our letters from home are the 
greatest. 

" I begin to feel entirely at home in Africa now, 
and am altogether contented and happy in the 
work. My health is very good, and, so far as we 
can judge, my constitution promises to be of the 
kind that may bear the climate well. I shall heart- 
ily rejoice if this be so. I believe that God has 
sent me here, and I hope for good. If he is my 



144 GEORGE PAULL. 

guide, I shall be safe; and I desire to be done for 
ever with attempting to direct my own steps, as I 
fear I have sometimes done in the time that is 
past. 

" I am collecting some little African curiosities, 
which I will send home, as they will be of some 
interest to you all. Among other things I have 
some brass and copper ankle-rings and some beads 
which I bought from an African princess. Mrs. 
M'Queen was down at Mrs. Mackey's to sit a while 
this evening, and says she has discovered that I 
have a namesake on the island. Some heathen 
mother that I have never seen has called her baby 
after me ; ' Pauloo ' is its name — that is, its English 
name. Its native name is Ubengi, after the in- 
terpreter; he, I believe, is its uncle. Mrs. 
McQueen has been down pretty often to give Mrs. 
Mackey a word of cheer in her loneliness, and it 
is well. I have a great respect for Mrs. Mackey. 
She is calm and even-tempered. Grace in her 
seems to shine out clearly as it is gradually ripen- 
ing her for glory. Her lamp, I think, is always 
trimmed and burning. There is nothing on earth 
so beautiful as a character mellowed by grace until 
it seems almost divine. 

"July 15. — TTe have had a young Scotch trader 



GEORGE PAULR 145 

here from Iloby for several days. He came over 
sick, but has gone away to-day quite well again. 
This is a hospital for all the sick sailors and 
traders in the neighborhood; they come here to 
be cured up. I was around to-day on another 
missionary tour beyond Alongo. I only had time 
to preach in one town ; started after dinner, and 
reached home again about six o'clock. It was a long 
walk for TJhamba — seven or eight miles — but he 
seemed just as fresh when we came back as when 
we started. 

" The church at home is growing fast, I hope, 
under Mr. Fife's care. I trust he may be blessed 
greatly, and I see not why there as well as else- 
where (for I see notices of many revivals) Zion 
may not be built in these troublous times. There 
are very many in the congregation who have 
grown up under the holy influence of a family 
altar, and they ought to come out and declare them- 
selves on the side of Christ. To resist the con- 
stant, gentle wooing influences of the Spirit as 
they are shed abroad daily in every pious, prayer- 
ful home seems a dark and reckless sin — a sin 
that I do not think will be lightly judged in the 
latter day, for God is very jealous of the treatment 
that his Holy Spirit shall receive ; and to have 

10 



146 GEORGE PAULL. 

him mocked and set at naught is to treat the Spirit 
of God as the Jews did his Son. It is worth more 
than a birthright to a throne to have been brought 
up in a pious home. I shall never cease to be 
grateful for all the holy and restraining influences 
that were thrown around me. They follow one 
every day that he lives, and they never cease to do 
their part in shaping the life and in forming it for 
God. It is not in vain to sow the seed and to 
water it with much prayer ; surely the harvest will 
come at last. 

" I saw some parties settling a dispute the other 
day in a way which was rather novel. As they 
have no courts, no regular laws, no officers of jus- 
tice, usually might is right. But sometimes friends 
from both parties meet and settle the matter pretty 
satisfactorily. Generally, however, when a man 
thinks he is wronged by another, he sends an am- 
bassador to say that he must have so much pay or 
he will come with his friends and fight. If the 
person to whom this message is sent happens to be 
a weaker person in point of friends, he has no re- 
sort but to pay the demand. Ibape, one of our 
workmen, came to me the other day greatly dis- 
tressed and said that a man had a 'palaver' with 
him, and was going to come and fight him if he 



GEORGE PAULL. 147 

did not pay the demand. He was obliged to pay 
(I believe it was just enough in this case), and 
came to me to get help. A very usual demand is 
the price of a slave, which is a set value, and con- 
sists of just so many things of different kinds, and 
must be neither more nor less (they amount in all 
to about thirty dollars), and these things constitute 
currency. The price of a slave is twelve romals 
(cloth), one gun, one keg of powder, one iron pot, 
two iron bars, two brass rods, two heads of tobacco, 
one shirt, one red cap, two gun-flints, one fire-steel, 
one cutlass, one small bell, one pme chest, one 
stone jar, two tobacco pipes. All of these articles 
must be included, and must be neither more nor 
less ; nor must anything else, even though it be of 
equal or greater value, be substituted in the place 
of any of the articles in the list. 

"July 19. — We have heard nothing lately about 
the plans of the Spanish, and so do not know 
whether they intend to let us stay here or not ; per- 
haps they will — at least until they get thoroughly 
under way. 

" I found my little congregation at Alongo con- 
siderably enlarged on Sunday. I think going 
about among their towns has had a good effect on 
them. I hope they may come on until there will 



148 GEORGE PAULL. 

not be room enough to hold them. I preached on 
my way back at one of the native towns, and had 
a good little congregation. I have had a strong, 
unwavering confidence in God that he will yet ere 
long work wonders among the people here. Pray 
much for me and for the success of the gospel 
among the people. I often feel most grateful to 
God that he has yet spared you that I may have 
the benefit of your prayers: surely I need them. 
It was just one year yesterday since I preached my 
farewell sermon at Morrison (Illinois). It has 
soon passed away; another and another will go as 
quickly. I often look back with great pleasure to 
my stay at Morrison. It was the most anxious six 
months I ever spent, and yet in many respects the 
most happy, and, I believe, decidedly the most use- 
ful. God most surely designed that I should come 
here. I look back and see the path most strangely 
marked out. From the time I thought of the mis- 
sion work one difficulty and another was gradually 
taken out of the way, and then by some most 
marked providences it was kept from being 
blocked up again. 

"I feel that this is my proper sphere, and I 
hope to be blessed in the work. My health is 
good — perhaps has never been better. I feel as yet 



GEORGE PAULL. 149 

no lassitude, as I thought I should; sometimes I 
feel a little depression of spirits, which I had been 
free from for the last four or five years, but per- 
haps when I get at the work thoroughly this may 
pass away. I am glad that I have the opportunity 
of preaching some as I study the language. I feel 
that I am at my proper work only when I am 
preaching. I expect to keep up the habit of 
preaching in the towns at least one day in the 
week besides the Sabbath. If I did not do this, I 
should feel depressed with the thought that I was 
doing nothing, and I seem to be doing almost 
nothing as it is. 

" I think I see uncle, doctor and the boys busy at 
the hay, as this is harvest-time at home. I wish 
you could have as cool and pleasant weather for 
harvesting as we have here. This is the African 
winter, and the natives go about shivering ; so do 
the white people that have been here any length of 
time. Good-bye for another month, and may our 
God bless and keep us all l" 

"July 27. {Journal.) — There are seasons in the 
lives of some Christians — and they seem to be peri- 
odical — when c the enemy comes in like a flood ; (ex- 
pressive figure!), the flood gates are up and the rush- 
ing tide of corruption sweeps everything before it. 



150 GEORGE PAULL. 

Of what avail is a helpless sinner's strength in 
such a time as this? All good resolutions bend like 
rushes, and the flood-tide sweeps over them. A 
Saviour's free and boundless grace for the chief of 
sinners is the only hiding-place." 

To his mother : 

"Corisco, July 27, 18G4. 

"I scarcely had intended to commence writing 
letters until after our mail came, but as I sat down 
by my table this evening with my lighted candle 
before me, my books about me and feeling quite 
comfortable in my solitude, it came into my mind 
that I might spend a few minutes very pleasantly 
in writing to you. 

"I have been busy for the last two days, and 
expect to be for another, putting a roof on the 
church. I can hardly say that / have been very 
busy, however, as my work was not very difficult. 
I have had eight or nine barefooted and barelegged, 
and some of them bareheaded, men to look after as 
they sat along in a row on the top of the church 
smoking a short pipe or two, out of which each 
took a whiff in turn. They chatter away as fast 
as they can, and work pretty well while you stand 
before them and look on, but almost the moment 
one turns his back the work stops, and very likely 



GEORGE PAULL. 151 

the whole row, or at least a part, turns over on its 
back to rest. They work for about sixteen cents a 
day, and really do as well as could be expected of 
them when one thinks of their irregular and indo- 
lent life. The roofing material is of palm leaves 
pinned together with little sticks into mats about 
five or six feet long by two wide. These mats, 
overlapping each other, are tied on to the bamboo 
rafters with long limber splits, something like those 
used to hang bacon. These mats make a pretty 
complete roof, which turns the rain very well for 
two or three years. I have one or two other jobs 
of roofing to do yet — the boat-house and part of 
the dwelling-house — and some fences to make before 
the rainy season commences; this will finish the 
out-door work. 

"The comparison of the righteous to the palm 
tree in the Psalms seems more beautiful and forci- 
ble since I came here than ever before. Both for 
beauty and for use it seems to surpass almost all 
other trees. The natives build their houses almost 
from top to bottom with it. They make twine for 
their nets from its fibre. They get their wine from 
it by tapping the tree. They lie under its shade 
and drink the delicious cocoanut milk (I speak of 
two varieties of the palm which we have here, the 



152 GEORGE PAULL. 

cocoanut and the oil palm), and they use the oil of 
the nut for food and for light. The heart of the 
tree also makes most delicious cabbage. We, too, 
know the value of the palm for food. Yesterday, 
for instance, we made our dinners on palm butter 
and palm cabbage, and bread fruit, plantains, rice 
and sweet potatoes, etc. The palm butter is a 
choice dish made of palm nuts and chicken boiled 
together. The palm cabbage (so called from its 
resemblance to cabbage) is the heart of the palm 
tree taken out near the bottom ; it is very good, but 
it kills the tree to get it. This that we had yes- 
terday was the first that I have ever seen. It was 
sent to Mrs. Mackey by Mrs. M'Queen. Mrs. 
M'Queen had received a quantity of it as a pres- 
ent from the Spanish priest, who is a gentlemanly 
young fellow and disposed to be polite. 

"August 8. — For more than a week we have 
been turning our eyes seaward in hopes of catch- 
ing a glimpse of our coming mail, but now we 
have almost given up the expectation for this 
month, as we think it would have been here 
before this if there had been an opportunity to 
send it down from Fernando Po. Two of the 
graces that one needs, especially in Africa, are 
patience and quiet submission. If these are 



GEORGE PAULL. 153 

strong, they will make many a rough place 
smooth. 

"As this is Monday, it has been my day for 
giving out supplies, but the labor was very light. 
I opened a barrel of butter, and I have not been 
more surprised at anything than that we should 
have such excellent butter every day away out 
here. It is sent out to us packed in small kegs, 
six of which are put in each barrel. I think 
nothing else is done to preserve it, except filling 
the barrel with strong brine. 

"August 9. — To-day I have been busy with six 
men making fence around the garden. It is not a 
very difficult process, but a little tedious. Long 
sticks are first sharpened and put into the ground 
one foot apart. These are the posts, and the rails 
are bamboo poles which are tied to the posts with 
long timber splits. We make the fence about six 
feet high, and it answers every purpose while it 
lasts, but the hot suns and drenching rains rot it 
away in one year. There is scarcely any wood on 
the island fit for fencing ; it is all soft and easily 
rots. The pickets for the fence which runs all 
around the mission grounds were brought from 
the mainland, as is also the wood which Mrs. 
Mackey burns. The large timber on Corisco is 



154 GEORGE PAULL. 

not very abundant, although there are some im- 
mense trees which I think would measure thirty 
or forty feet in circumference. The women cut 
away most of the trees, or the tops of them, when 
they make their farms, which are only about half- 
acre gardens. When they choose a place for a 
farm, they take away the underbrush and only 
cut the limbs off the trees, so that the tree may 
not die ; and after they have used the ground for a 
year or two the soil is exhausted, and they leave 
it to grow up again with bushes and trees, so that 
it may recover its strength. 

"At this season of the year (the dry season) the 
women spend most of their time making farms and 
planting cassada and plantains : on these they 
chiefly live. They do nearly all their work with a 
simple iron cutlass, which is something like a corn- 
cutter, or rather like a sabre. Their farms are 
often a long way off from their houses, and they 
pack their produce home in baskets, which rest on 
the small of the back and are supported by a band 
reaching up to the front part of the head. They 
carry immense loads in this way, the weight of 
which rests mainly on the head, and it is bent 
forward as they walk. They carry their wood 
in this way, tied in large bundles and stuck end- 









GEORGE PAULL. 155 

wise into the basket, also their water, which is 
first put into large four or five-gallon jugs and 
the jug is put into the basket. This dry season 
is their time for working, and I suppose they 
lounge in their huts when the rains come. Now 
they have it perfectly dry, scarcely a drop of rain 
in the whole four months that the season lasts. 

"As I walk about the beach I see them improv- 
ing the dry season to boil their salt. They put up 
a little shed and cover it with palm leaf mats, and 
under this they lounge many a day boiling salt 
and roasting palm nuts and plantains and fish. 
Their kettles seem to be large pieces of copper 
beaten into some kind of shape for holding water. 
They never look happier than when they are lying 
round the fire roasting plantains and boiling salt. 
The women, I suppose, are the better portion of 
the people ; and yet I do not know, either, for they 
have so little in their characters that is womanly 
that you scarcely can persuade yourself to give 
them the place that otherwise would be their 
due. 

"August 10. — Part of my men went away this 
morning — one went a fishing and another some- 
where else. Scarcely any of them have patience to 
work three or four days at the same thing. But if 



156 GEOBGE PAULL. 

one goes, half a dozen are ready in a minute to take 
his place. They are all anxious to work for a day 
or so, to get some fish-hooks or cloth or something 
else. This season of the year is a fine time with 
them for fishing. They go out in their boats to 
sea, a distance of two or three miles, and spend the 
day catching what they call bianga (a fish about as 
large as a mackerel) with hook and line. Each 
man will catch perhaps twenty. They cannot 
preserve them long except by salting them heavily 
and then smoking them, which they do by simply 
hanging them up in their houses, for they have 
no chimneys. They build the fire in the middle 
of the house and let it blaze and smoke away ; the 
smoke and soot do not disturb them in the least. 
In anything connected with boating or fishing I 
believe they are tolerably expert. Their boats are 
made out of immense trees, and are hewn out into 
excellent shape, very much like a skiff. They use 
sails on them, sometimes one, sometimes two. 
Even the little boys are passionately fond of boats 
and the water. They make very handsome little 
boats, rigged with sails, and then their chief 
amusement is in wading along the beach and drag- 
ging them in the water. 

"If nothing providential hinders I expect to 



GEORGE PAULL. 157 

start on Tuesday to visit the stations on the main- 
land and preach to the people there. The out- 
stations are occupied by Scripture readers, who hold 
prayer-meetings and make exhortations. It was 
the intention of the mission for some one of the 
missionaries to visit these stations once a month, 
but this has not been done of late because of the 
smallness of our force. Dr. Nassau is so much 
troubled with sea-sickness when he sails that it is 
almost impossible for him to leave the island ; be- 
sides, his other duties — of school, etc. — make his 
hands full. So I have offered to take the work at 
the out-stations until more help comes. Dr. Nas- 
sau is a fine singer and very fond of music. He 
teaches all the children under his care to sing. 
Many of the natives who have been about the mis- 
sion sing very well, and even start quite a number 
of tunes. When I preach, I generally depend on 
my interpreter to raise the tunes. 

" Dr. Nassau is expecting his wife out again be- 
fore long. She seems to be very active and ener- 
getic, and has a share in doing everything that is 
to be done. She is fond of gardening, and has in- 
stilled quite a love for the art into the doctor. He 
has a fine large garden of sweet potatoes, which are 
easily cultivated. The whole process consists in 



158 GEORGE PAULL. 

throwing up some ridges of earth and breaking 
off some pieces of green potato vine and sticking 
them in, and in a few weeks you have a flourish- 
ing crop. Indeed, they grow all around wherever 
a, piece of vine is thrown down. 

"Our farm here is not large, perhaps three acres 
in all, but with the amount of stock on it — viz., a 
horse, two cattle, twenty goats and half a dozen 
sheep — w r e have a good deal of trouble as well as on 
larger farms, but not in providing food. All that is 
necessary is simply to let them run and feed on the 
grass all the year round. It grows very rank, and 
a little piece of ground will produce a great deal. 
It is never safe to let a sheep or a goat outside the 
enclosure, as it is almost sure to be stolen. Even 
the cattle of the missionaries at Gaboon are pretty 
sure to be speared by the natives when they wan- 
der away from the mission grounds. 

"August 13. — My last letter from home was 
dated 29th of March, wellnigh five months ago, 
and we are still in ignorance of home affairs. For 
lack of anything later, and for sake of bringing up 
home pictures more vividly, last night I took out 
the letters that I have received from home since I 
left and re-read them. This was at least some 
satisfaction. Five have reached me in all. One 



GEORGE PATJLL. 159 

of the continual temptations here is to have one's 
thoughts running backward to home and friends 
perhaps more than is right. The reasons are, first, 
that one has no social enjoyments here, and it is 
hard to root out the natural craving after friends 
and friendly intercourse ; and since the craving can- 
not be satisfied with the reality, one is constantly 
tempted to be reaching backward after the shadow 
or the remembrance of what was. Then, also, the 
utter absence of outward business and stir and ex- 
citement to draw off the attention has the effect of 
turning one's thoughts altogether inward, there to 
be occupied in studying one's thoughts and feelings 
and experiences, or else in running back over the 
memories of the past, gathering out the bright 
spots for good cheer, and ruminating over the 
darker ones to learn some lesson for the future. I 
try, however, to bring my dreaming within certain 
bounds, and do but little of it at other times, unless 
occasionally when the tide breaks over all bounds 
and takes its course. 

" But aside from all this, I am perfectly content 
in my African home, and would not give up my 
field of labor here for any that I have had, or 
might hope to have, in my own land. I say this 
from the feeling that it is my proper place, and 



160 GEORGE PAULL. 

that God has sent me here in answer to prayer and 
a sincere desire that I might be placed just where 
my life might tell most truly for good and for 
God's glory. Certainly, in the economy of God, 
there is a place for every child of his, to which he 
is in every way better adapted than to any other, 
and in which he will accomplish more than in any 
other. He made none of us without some design. 
He had some end to accomplish in the creation of 
each one of us; and if we seek earnestly and sub- 
missively and prayerfully to have him fulfill his 
whole will in us, we shall never be disappointed, 
and in the end God shall surely be glorified. 

" One of the most important effects on myself 
that I look for here, and sincerely desire, is that 
my worldliness may be in some measure subdued — 
I mean my fondness for society and pleasure of a 
social kind. It seems in all my past life to have 
had possession of me like a demon, almost, and to 
have hurried me along under its mad sway. And 
yet so weak am I that if subjected to the same 
temptations, unless kept by the mighty power of 
God, I should be hurried away as madly again. 
Every man in his best unaided strength is like a 
reed before the blast; he bends and shakes until 
the storm is past, and when the next wind blows 






GEORGE PAULL. 161 

he bends and shakes again. They are blessed 
above all others who mind religion in the earliest 
dawn of life ; they are saved from many a snare 
and from many a sorrow for time spent in folly. 

" Since coming to Corisco I have seen but little 
that is rare of the animal or reptile kind. There 
is not much variety in that way on Corisco. Liz- 
ards, it is true, run about on all sides and under 
your feet, and birds in great variety — and some of 
them, too, very beautiful — fly all around, and little 
squirrels jump about within a few yards of you. 
There are also some snakes, but I have seen only 
a few. To-day, as the spring is about failing (they 
always do here in the dry season), I opened the 
large cistern, so that we could use the water in it. 
Two snakes had found their way into it before us ; 
one was dead and putrid, the other alive and 
sprightly. They were five or six feet long, and 
seemed to be a variety of the cobra di capello, and 
are very poisonous. The living one I soon put 
an end to with the cutlass. These are, I think, 
the only snakes that I have seen on the island. 

" Monday, August 14. — Yesterday I preached as 

usual at Alongo and in one of the towns near by. 

My congregations have been steadily increasing, 

and give me great encouragement both by their 
11 



162 GEORGE PAULL. 

quietness and attention and by the numbers that 
come. This makes me hopeful that by preaching 
to them patiently, earnestly and prayerfully their 
hearts may yet be reached. I spend one day in 
every week going around among their towns to 
preach and invite them to church. There is no 
desire among them to hear the gospel, as is often 
supposed in America. They are too deeply buried 
in darkness and in sin to know or feel their need 
of it. But this, instead of being a reason for with- 
holding the gospel, is only the stronger argument 
for pressing and urging it upon them, 'compelling 
them to come in.' Most of them, when urged to 
come, make the promise to come simply to get rid 
of you, or else they allow some trifling excuse to 
keep them away. The older ones, who are attached 
to their customs and heathenish practices, say that 
it is better to stay away and to keep their wives 
away, for they do not want to become Christians, 
and that if they go to church they would be very 
apt to do so. But I am persuaded that, stubborn 
as the natural heart is, multitudes will yet bend 
their necks to the sway of Him whose yoke is 
easy and w r hose burden is light. 

" We had a short visit to-day from three or four 
traders on Ilobv. Some of them are very nice, 






GEORGE PATJLL. 163 

gentlemanly young Scotchmen, who have come 
out to this coast for sake of the higher salaries 
given by their employers in Scotland. One was 
a handsome young fellow with a fine noble face, 
but very pale. His name, Maclachlan. He came 
to consult the doctor about his health, and had 
fears of consumption, but the doctor relieved his 
fears and told him there was no particular danger. 
He put three dollars into my hand as he went away 
for the benefit of the mission. It makes me sorry 
to see a fine young fellow come out here as a trader, 
because almost certain ruin is the result. There 
are no restraints of society, no wholesome influence 
of any kind, while on the other hand they have 
every opportunity to run into all possible excess 
and to indulge every appetite and passion. Many 
a noble young Scotchman along this coast has fallen 
a shattered wreck before he reached mature man- 
hood, and his bones lie mouldering under the 
sands. 

"I have promised to spend next Sabbath at 
Iloby and preach there on my way back from 
the mainland. I would that I could be instru- 
mental in doing them some good ! There are five 
or six of them there now, and one of them was 
anxious to have me come and preach to them, as 



164 GEORGE PAULL. 

he said they had no Sabbath at all there now, but 
that Sabbath was their greatest trade-day. The 
factories of the traders of which you read in Du 
Chaillu are simply stores in which they keep goods — 
viz., clothes, beads, rum, tobacco, etc. — to trade to 
the natives for dyewoods, India rubber, ivory, 
palm oil, etc., which they send back to England 
and Scotland. There is indeed quite an exten- 
sive trade all along this coast. Ships pass within 
sight of us almost every week, and sometimes sev- 
eral in a week. 

u I have never mentioned in any of my letters, 
I think, the use I made of Mrs. M'DowelPs con- 
tribution. Let her know that it was invested in 
Bibles, which were presented to four little boys in 
Alongo school. They are learning to read them, 
and I hope she will add her fervent prayers that 
they may also learn to obey them ; and doubtless 
the day will come that they will rise up and call 
her blessed. I wish that many more would follow 
her example. Many a dollar might be given that 
would never be missed by the giver, and yet if 
prayer, earnest and believing prayer, went with 
it, it would kindle a light in some soul which 
would at last blend its rays with the light that 
is uncreated. A soul plucked from this darkness 



GEORGE PAULL. 165 

and planted in the light, there to shine for ever 
calm and beautiful as a star — that would be a rare 
reward for a little self-denial. I have thought 
much of late that I could ask no higher gift of 
God for me than that I might be so wrapped up 
in a desire for his glory and for the good of this 
people as that I should bend every thought and 
every energy, while I live, to this end. But, alas ! 
it is with me as I suppose it is with many others : 
I have exalted conceptions of what I would like 
to do and like to be, but my progress toward the 
mark is slow. I only seem to sit and resolve, and 
then let the matter end, though I hope it is not 
altogether so. 

u For the last two or three weeks my progress in 
the study of the Benga has been slow. Building 
fence and roofing the church were interruptions, but 
it was necessary that these should be done while the 
dry season lasted, and my interpreter for the last 
week has not come. His brother, the headman of 
the town, has lately died, and his excuse is that 
since then much business falls on him. It is pos- 
sible that we may have to dissolve partnership. I 
had hoped that our letters would get here before I 
left for the mainland, but there is no sign of their 
reaching us." 






166 GEORGE PAULL. 

To his mother and sister : 

" Corisco, August 23, 1864. 

"I am safely back again from my journey to the 
mainland. It was very pleasant, and the weari- 
someness seemed as nothing because of the delight- 
fulness of the work. On Tuesday, 16th, after due 
preparation for a week's boating, I got off on my 
first preaching tour to the mainland. The prepa- 
ration kept me busy all the morning — that is, getting 
the men (six in number) ready, getting the boat 
launched, the mast np and the sails ready, etc., 
and then, too, getting some shawls for sleeping on 
and under (for there are no beds on the mainland), 
and overcoats, and extra clothing for emergencies, 
and a stock of medicines also in case of sickness. 
Then also some cloth and knives, etc., must be 
taken along to buy food for the men ; also some 
supplies for the Scripture readers whom I went to 
visit. Besides these, my own larder had to be 
stocked ; for there is no white man's food there, 
unless it be an occasional chicken. Mrs. Mackey 
presided over this part, and stocked a small box for 
me with roast beef, and chicken, and crackers, and 
cakes, and bread, with the necessary helps in eating, 
viz., knife and fork, plate, towels, etc., also a 
candle or two and some matches. Thus comfort- 



GEORGE PAULL. 167 

ably equipped, I started off near noon with my 
crew of six and two or three passengers. 

" Our boat skimmed along the water before a 
good breeze beautifully as a bird. It is only an 
open boat, very much like a large skiff, perhaps 
thirty feet or more long ; very strong it is, and will 
carry a heavy load. We had not traveled very far 
until I felt my old squeamishness returning, and as 
the best preventive I laid down on my back and shut 
my eyes. This plan would have succeeded, I think, 
but presently some of the men called out that they 
had brought nothing to bail out water with ; and as 
the water was coming in, I was obliged to get up 
and search my box for something that would an- 
swer, and fortunately found a small tin bucket 
filled with cakes which could easily be emptied. 
But the getting up unsettled my stomach, and I w r as 
seasick — sick enough indeed. But it was soon over, 
at least the worst of it, and an hour or two more 
of sailing brought us to Big Eloby, our first stop- 
ping-place. 

" Big Eloby and Little Eloby are small islands 
directly east of Corisco, twelve miles from it and 
within four miles of the mainland. Little Eloby 
is perhaps one and a half miles in circumference, 
and is occupied by five or six traders who have 



168 



GEORGE PAULL. 



their factories there, and trade with the natives, 
who bring them India rubber and barwood down 
the river Muni, immediately opposite Big Eloby, 
which is occupied altogether by natives, of whom 
there are perhaps several hundred. We have a 
station and one Scripture reader there, Eavo by 
name, a very efficient, earnest man. 

" We anchored at Eavo's station about 2 o'clock ; 
and leaving one of the natives to watch the boat, 
and getting on the back of another (this is the 
usual way of being landed from boats here, to avoid 
wetting of our clothes by the surf), I went ashore. 
Eavo took me to his bamboo house, which is house 
and church all in one, and belongs to the mis- 
sion, and gave me a room. I was glad to lie down 
for a little time on the bed (an oblong frame with 
nothing but bamboo splits laid on it) and take a rest. 
It takes but little to weary one in such a climate 
as this. I cannot tell why it is, but all know by 
experience that it is so. I had not rested long until 
I heard the voice of zealous Eavo talking away very 
earnestly in the next room ; and as I after a while 
peered through where he was, I found him sitting 
by the table with the gospel of Matthew (in 
Benga) in his hand, expounding it to a young na- 
tive with a grave and attentive face on the other 



GEORGE PAULL. 169 

side of the table. I went around afterward 
through six or seven of the towns to see the people 
and invite them to church, as I intended to preach 
at night. These towns had a sad and dreary 
aspect to rue, and I scarcely knew why until I 
smelt the rum on the breath of the men, and then 
I knew. They live near to the factories, where rum 
is bartered freely as water, and the poor creatures 
drink like beasts. May our Father who is merci- 
ful forgive the traders this great wrong ! Death and 
sorrow and sin follow in their track ; and where 
the missionaries seek to lure men up to God and 
heaven, these others, with their cruel snares, gather 
up scores and hurry them down to hell. 

" When night came on, quite a houseful of men 
and women gathered in to hear the word. After 
preaching six inquirers remained, with whom I 
spent half an hour or more trying to teach them 
the way to Christ. They have been inquirers for 
some time, and seem to have gained some know- 
ledge of the - way/ but it is hard for minds so 
dark to gain a clear and saving view of the way to 
be saved. If the Spirit of God is leading them, 
they will at last see the light. Nothing is too hard 
for God to do ; he can give sight to all that are 
blind. I supped before services on a part of my 



170 



GEORGE PAULL. 



cold chicken and some cakes and a glass of water, 
which I also carried in my box, for good water is 
hard to get in many places. After all the duties 
of the day were done I lay down on my bed of 
bamboo splits with a shawl under me and one over 
me, and my carpet-bag under my head for a pillow, 
and thus slept with tolerable comfort until the 
morning. 

"On Wednesday, 17th, I was up a considerable 
while before day to be off on my journey. I sat 
down on the side of my bed and breakfasted on 
the rest of my chicken by the light of the moon, 
which was pouring in brightly at the window. 
After prayer with the men we were again in the 
boat and away before a nice morning breeze. 
Eavo went with us to a point on the mainland 
where his wife was on a visit, and where he wished 
to talk to the people from the Scriptures. 

" We stopped for a moment at Cape St. John, 
the most northern point of Corisco Bay, to let one 
of our passengers off. A little farther up the coast 
we stopped till a canoe came off for the other. 
About noon we came to Aje, one of the nearest 
stations on the mainland, about thirty-five miles 
from Corisco. There is a large native town here 
at the mouth of the Aje River. The people speak 



GEORGE PAULL. 171 

the Benga language with little variation, but they 
belong to the Bapuku tribe. Many of them stood 
on the bank as we sailed into the mouth of the 
river, and hailed our arrival with evident delight. 
I soon found Makendenga and Ilanga, our Scrip- 
ture readers at that point, and went with them to 
the station-house, which was soon crowded with 
curious faces anxious to hear the news and to see a 
strange white man. As I was tired and sick with 
the headache from boating, I laid down and rested 
for an hour on the bamboo splits. They cooked 
me a chicken and an egg ; most of the chicken I 
gave to the men, but I drank the soup or broth, 
which they brought me in a mug. It tasted savory 
indeed, for I had had no warm drink on my stom- 
ach before since I left Corisco. They had neither 
knife nor fork nor spoon nor salt to give me, 
though I happened to have all these with me, ex- 
cept the spoon. There was one short wooden spoon 
in the house, but the men had it busily going 
round their circle from one to another, dipping, 
each in his turn, from a pot of food in the centre. 
The fish and boiled plantains they eat with their 
fingers, taking all from the same dish. The im- 
mense quantity of food that they can dispose of at 
one time makes me open my eyes with surprise. 



172 GEORGE PATJLL. 

a After rest and food I took a short walk around 
through the wilderness, which is thick all about, to 
see something of the nature of the coast. I came 
to the river again a short distance from its 
mouth, but found it degenerated almost into a 
stagnant swamp. Mangroves grew plentifully all 
through it, leaving only here and there an open 
passage. One peculiarity of the African coast (as 
Mr. Mackey has sometimes told American audi- 
ences) is that the oysters grow on trees. I saw the 
sight myself, veritable oysters growing on veritable 
limbs of trees ! But it is the tree, not the oyster, 
that reverses the order of nature ; the oyster keeps 
his place, but the limbs of the tree (mangrove) 
grow under water. There are immense quantities 
of oysters growing in this way, not very large, nor 
of a very good quality, but still having the proper 
flavor. Mrs. Mackey sometimes uses them at 
table. 

"I was here, too, just in the midst of the ele- 
phant region. I did not, however, see any, but 
the people tell me that the elephants cause them 
an immense deal of trouble, coming into their 
farms at night and tearing up and eating their 
plantains and cassada. Very few elephants, how- 
ever, are killed in this immediate neighborhood. As 



GEORGE PATJLL. 173 

night drew on a goodly number of attentive lis- 
teners came in and filled the house, and I preached 
to them the story of ' God's wondrous love in giv- 
ing his Son to die that we might live/ One of the 
wives of the headman is an inquirer, and remained 
after preaching. I could get but little knowledge 
of her thoughts, but I tried to tell her in the 
simplest terms the way to God through Christ. It 
is a joy to think that, if no more, at least one from 
here and there shall at last come up among the 
redeemed in glory and help to swell the song of 
praise to * Him that has loved us and washed us in 
his blood/ The Scripture readers are simple- 
hearted, kind men. It is no hard task to love 
them and to feel that they are one with us in 
Christ. They hold meetings for prayer morning, 
noon and night, reading also the Scriptures and 
talking with the people. They keep a school, to 
which all may come who will. I had a long 
talk with them to encourage them and urge them 
on in their good work. 

" Thursday, 18th. — This morning I was more at 
leisure in starting, as we had only a few miles to 
sail. So, after prayers and a light breakfast on fish 
and eggs, we were away to the beach and in our 
boat. Unfortunately we found the anchor fast in 



174 



GEORGE PAULL. 




the sand, but a couple of willing fellows jumped 
into the water and were soon down to the bottom 
to see what was the matter. So by a little effort, 
with their assistance, we at last got away. When 
we got fairly under way our boat sailed along de- 
lightfully before the strong breeze. The next sta- 
tion to which we were going, and the last one, was 
at the mouth of the Hanje, another little river 
eight or nine miles above the Aje, and among the 
Kombe people. Their language also differs but 
little from the Benga. 

a The Scripture readers here are Jumba and 
Etiane, and they are noble fellows, too. We met 
them as we went, out on the sea, going to fish with 
some other of the natives. They came back with 
us in our boat, and their faces showed their joy, 
for the arrival of the mission-boat is to them very 
much as the arrival of an American ship is to us. 
On the beach were numbers of Kombe people gath- 
ered, and they followed us into the house. After 
I had sat down for a while an old headman came 
in, and, after a profound bow and a somewhat cere- 
monious welcome, he laid down on the table before 
me a paper which he seemed to esteem a most im- 
portant document. I opened it, and found it to be 
the article of agreement between Mr. Mackey and 



GEORGE PAULL. 175 

them for the purchase of the ground on which the 
station stood. 

"I was much pleased with the Kombe people, 
more, indeed, than with any that I have seen in 
Africa. They seem generous -hearted, simple- 
minded, and have not been so spoiled by the 
corrupting influence of trade. After I had eaten 
some dinner, which Jumba had been careful to 
provide (shortly after my arrival he said, 'I go 
get chicken for you'), I preached for quite a long 
while to about forty people on the ' parable of the 
Prodigal Son/ and through the whole of it they 
were as quiet and attentive an audience as any, I 
think, I ever stood before. Later in the afternoon, 
one or two of the young men went with me, and I 
walked back by a narrow path in the direction of 
the interior until I came upon the river again. 
Here I found nearly all of the women of the 
town busily engaged in building dams across the 
stream to catch fish. They build two dams near 
together, and then bail out the water between them. 
In this way they sometimes catch quantities of fish, 
chiefly catfish. When I left them I bade them 
good-bye and wished them success in catching 
plenty of fish. They said, c Bless us, that we 
may catch plenty of fish/ and the words sent a 



176 GEORGE PAULL. 

chill through me as I thought that in their blind- 
ness they would put man in the place of his Maker. 
I pointed them to Him who alone has power to 
bless and prosper in every station and duty of life. 
They said i Yes, all the people in Hanje know that 
your God is a very great God/ But it is a diffi- 
cult matter to make them believe and feel that the 
6 white man's God ' is their God also. I urged 
them to come in to hear about God at night, but 
they said they would be too tired to walk so far, 
and were going to sleep on the bank of the river. 

"As I returned to Hanje by another path I sud- 
denly came upon traces of elephants, and they were 
so recent that it startled me for a moment when 
I thought that I was then standing in the tracks 
that wild elephants had made not long before. As 
I passed along I came on more frequent traces, 
which seemed to make it evident that elephants 
were abundant there and would not be difficult to 
find. Late in the afternoon I went with the Scrip- 
ture readers to examine a house, in a town a short 
distance up the river, which they wished to hire 
for mission purposes. We got into a canoe and 
paddled up the narrow, deep stream. In some 
places it was so thickly covered with mangroves 
as scarcely to leave a passage for the canoe. It was 



GEORGE PAULL. 177 

a quiet, solemn ride, because of the dreariness of 
the mangroves about and overhead. At length we 
landed in a grove of palms, about twenty in num- 
ber, and as tall and beautiful as I have ever seen. 
They stood in rows as though they had been 
planted, and their branches met at the top and 
made a deep, quiet shade underneath. They stood 
there like majestic old columns, grand and beauti- 
ful; and since I was in Westminster or St. Paul's 
I have not been in a place where I felt such awe, 
and where there seemed to be such a deep, solemn 
quiet, as though it were a temple of the living 
God. 

"After we had examined the house I went back 
and preached to a good audience at Hanje in the 
evening, and conversed with the mother and sister 
of Jumba after preaching. 

"Friday, August 19. — This morning we were 
all up by daylight, and, after prayers, got off. 
Our own boat was anchored . out from shore nearly 
half a mile, because of the rocks near the land, so 
we went off to it in Jumba's boat. I bade good- 
bye to Jumba, as noble a Christian, I think, as I 
have ever seen; everything about him seems tem- 
pered with the spirit of the gospel. His face 
shines with that peculiar lustre which speaks so 
12 



178 GEORGE PAULL. 

plainly of happiness and peace within. At an- 
other time I hope to give you some account of 
him, as his history is interesting. When we got 
our sails spread I took a little breakfast, viz., 
some biscuit, hot fish, and a glass of water. The 
fish are cooked by wrapping them with pepper in 
plantain leaves (green), and thus laying them on 
the coals. My breakfast had to serve me till 
night, as we landed nowhere and I could eat noth- 
ing while we were sailing. The trip up the coast 
is pleasant enough, but going back it is very 
tedious, as the winds are all against us, and we 
are compelled to tack back and forward all the 
time. Thus, as we were now on our return, we 
were sailing back and forth all day, and making 
but little progress. In the afternoon a man and a 
boy came off to us from the shore in a canoe. He 
brought twenty-seven ears of dried corn, a chicken, 
and some dried fish. I bought them all for about 
eight cents. We buy almost everything that the 
natives bring us, as we generally find use for it at 
the mission. 

"About night I was glad to find that we were 
drawing near to Cape St. John, where we expected 
to stay all night, and where I wished to preach. 
When we got there, however, I was obliged to put 



GEORGE PAULR 179 

off the preaching, as there was such a hubbub on 
our arrival (about 7 J o'clock), and as the men were 
tired and hungry, and I myself was tired and had 
eaten nothing since daylight. When we got into a 
hut I stretched myself out on the ' bamboo splits 9 
to rest, while the boatmen and the people from the 
town, who had gathered in, kept up a terrible talk- 
ing. If any natives are near there is no quiet, for 
they are incessant talkers and talk almost at the 
top of their voices ; their nearness to the sea gives 
them, I suppose, the habit of loud talking. 

"At 9 o'clock the women brought in some fish 
and boiled plantains for the men, and in an almost 
incredibly short time they had cut up my chicken 
and boiled it in a pot, and now I had it smoking 
before me. The legs and wings and neck tasted 
very savory and tender, and on these I made my 
supper and gave the rest to the men. They found 
me a place to sleep — a little hut which was new and 
nice enough, but only about ten feet square, and 
with no hole in it for ventilation or for the escape 
of smoke but the door. It was used for parlor, 
bed-room and kitchen. As it was a warm night, 
and the fire left burning in the middle of the floor, 
and as I must of necessity shut the door to keep 
out thieves, I could scarcely imagine what would 



180 GEORGE PAULL. 

be the result by morning. But no other house 
could be found, so I had the fire put out, and, 
shutting my door, I laid down and slept pretty 
well until morning. When I opened my door 
again at daylight, I saw an old man moving about 
near by, and from him I got some water to wash 
my face, which refreshed me as much as my 
sleep. 

"Saturday, August 20. — As I could not preach 
last night, I got the people together this morning 
about 8 o'clock and preached to them, and had a 
solemn and, I hope, profitable meeting. Soon we 
got started again on our way to Little Eloby, where 
I expected to spend the Sabbath and preach to the 
traders. We were obliged to row out a consider- 
able distance from the point so as to catch the 
wind, but the tide was against us and also the 
wind. After rowing a considerable distance with 
great difficulty, and after breaking one oar, the men 
asked me to let them put in to shore and wait for a 
change of tide, which I thought it better to do. 
When we landed I saw a little town on the hill 
above the beach. So, putting a couple of bananas 
and as many biscuits in my pocket to breakfast on 
by the way, I took the interpreter and went up to 
preach to the people. When we got there we 






GEORGE PAULL. 181 

found all the people away but one woman, but 
small as my congregation was I did not fail to 
preach the gospel to her in as plain and simple a 
way as I could. She said Mr. Clemens had 
preached to them once, but she did not remember 
what he had told them. 

"After change of tide we started again, and 
this time got under way, though with some diffi- 
culty, and in a little while again a calm fell on us, 
so that it was late in the afternoon before we got 
under full sail for Eloby. I was not a little glad, 
however, when, about 8 o'clock at night, we landed 
at Eloby and I found my way to Mr. Watson's 
house, and there enjoyed again some of the c white 
man's ' cleanliness and comfort. He immediately 
sent his boys to get me some coffee and ham and 
eggs, which I relished after my cold food, and es- 
pecially as I had eaten nothing that day except my 
biscuits and bananas in the morning. 

"The five or six traders settled on this little 
island (about a mile and a half in circumference) 
live very comfortably in bachelor style, as there 
are no white ladies in this part of Africa except 
missionary ladies. They have good houses and 
plenty of goods which they exchange with the na- 
tives for India-rubber, bass-wood, ivory, etc., as 



182 



GEORGE PAULL. 



they bring these to them from the mainland. I 
was acquainted with the other traders on the island, 
and they came in to see me shortly after I arrived 
at Mr. Watson's. 

"Sabbath, August 21. — This morning before I 
got up I heard Mr. Watson calling to me that the 
mail had at last come — the mail for which we had 
been looking for the last twenty days. My letters 
were among the rest, for I had left directions to 
have them sent to Eloby to meet me, if the mail 
should come while I was gone. I had quite a 
package — two mails in one. I read my home 
letters and another one, but the rest I put aside 
until Monday. I spent a tolerably quiet and 
pleasant Sabbath here; the traders met and I 
preached to them as plainly and pointedly as I 
could. They were apparently very glad to have 
services, and when preaching was over one of them 
passed a hat around and took up a collection for 
the mission. They handed me five dollars in sil- 
ver ; I suppose each man gave a dollar. 

"Monday, August 22. — Started early from Eloby 
this morning and reached Corisco about noon. It 
is much more comfortable on land than tossing 
about on the sea ; but we are not to study comfort 
when all Africa is dying for the lack of light. 



GEORGE PAULL. 183 

"Thursday, September 1. — To-day our mail for 
September came, and although I had scarcely- 
digested all the good news I had received a few 
days before, yet I gave it a hearty welcome. We 
learn by this mail that our supplies and reinforce- 
ments will be likely to reach us by the last of the 
month. It will be a great day when a ship from 
America lands at Corisco and brings more mission- 
aries. Dr. Nassau is very busy fixing up every- 
thing about his premises to receive his wife. I am 
busy rebuilding the boat-house and reroofing part 
of the dwelling-house, and attending to everything 
that is to be done before the rains commence, which 
will be about the 15th of this month. Will also 
have to take an inventory of all the mission prop- 
erty, so as to make report to the Board at the end 
of the year, and also to put in order the store-house 
to receive the new supplies. 

"Saturday, September 3. — Spent part of this day 
dressing up and cleaning out our little grave-yard, 
so that it might not seem overgrown and neglected 
when Mr. de Heer comes — his wife lies buried 
there. 

"Sabbath, 4th. — Preached at Alongo. Had a good 
turn-out, about forty-four in number, and among 
them two or three old headmen. At night I con- 



184 GEORGE PAULL. 

ducted the services for Dr. Nassau at Evangasimba. 
It was monthly concert. We have monthly con- 
cert and take a collection on the first Sabbath of 
every month. 

" Our heavenly Father has kept me thus far in 
remarkably good health, much better, indeed, than 
is common for new-comers, however I dare not 
boast, but should be humble and thankful. 

" I could scarcely venture so long a letter as this 
for any place but home, lest it would seem a weari- 
some task to read it; but I can trust that you will 
not grow weary of it, unless by some means I have 
failed to make it interesting. I shall not always 
write you at so great length, but as long as I live 
and my parents live I hope to write regularly, 
and at some length, too, if by this means I can 
afford any gratification to them. This is probably 
the only means left me, or the only way that I 
shall ever have of contributing to their enjoyment 
or comfort. And whatever time I may spend in 
this way I shall look upon as time well and accept- 
ably spent. 

" We are looking for Mr. de Heer, Mrs. 
Clemens and Mrs. Nassau about the last of this 
month ; we have heard from them and of their 
arrival on the coast, a good piece north, about Li- 



GEORGE PAULL. 185 

beria. It will be a very busy time when the 
vessel reaches here. There are many of my friends 
to whom I would be glad to write, but I find if I 
carry on a large correspondence, it will consume a 
great amount of my time which I cannot conscien- 
tiously spare from my work here. I have never 
been able to get a letter off to my old friends at 
Morrison, Illinois, until this mail. It was a 
shame to neglect any who have been so kind to me 
for so long a time, but it seemed unavoidable. 

" August 23. — Conducted the prayer-meeting at 
Evangasimba ; spoke to the people on the healing 
of blind Bartimeus. Gave out the hymn, ' Awake, 
and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb/ 
While waiting for Mrs. Mackey to raise the tune, 
my ears were surprised to hear some sweet strains 
coming from another quarter of the house. It was 
from the little girls of the school — about twenty in 
number, and most of them from ten to fourteen 
years of age. They had commenced to the tune of 
' There'll be no more sorrow there/ and with their 
soft young voices they made music so sweet that 
my heart was melted almost to tears. In the dark- 
ness of a heathen land, to hear the praise of Jesus 
sung so sweetly makes one dream of heaven. 

" August 29. — Preached yesterday at Alongo on 



186 GEORGE PAULL. 

6 Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die V Not a 
very large congregation. Preached in the after- 
noon at Ngume's tow r n, on i Whosoever will, let 
him take of the water of life freely/ Fever took 
hold of me slightly in the afternoon, probably the 
effects of my Kombe trip. The fever is also on me 
to-day, with headache and a sore eye. Last night 
I w T as restless. Have set the men at the boat- 
house this morning to repair it. 

"September 16. — Eecovered to-day from my 
fourth attack of fever. All have been light, last- 
ing only a few days at most, and only producing a 
feeling of inexpressible worthlessness." 

In a letter dated Corisco, October 5, 1864, to his 
brother James, Mr. Paull w T rites : " The friendship 
of any that have been my true friends I find has not 
grown w T eaker by my being so far away ; nor do I 
believe it ever will. But even if it did, this much 
I know — that I could still be happy here in my 
work, and in the comforts God can and does bestow, 
were I assured that I had not a friend on earth. 
They greatly mistake who think it a dry and 
dreary life to be a Christian. If it is dry and 
dreary to be full of peace, to be perfectly contented 
and happy wherever God places you or with what- 
ever he sends you, to be ready for either life or 



t> 



GEORGE PAULL. 187 

death, rather indeed preferring to die than to 
live, then it is dry and dreary to be a Christian. 
If you are not one yet, Jim, this will be like hold- 
ing up a beautiful flower and discussing its form 
and varied colors to a blind boy ; you will neither 
see nor appreciate what I have said. You think 
your pleasures now are delightful ; so does every 
one of your age ; but when you become a Christian 
you will wish that you had let them go to the wind, 
and that you had sought with all your heart the joy 
which is so much purer. Begin to look heavenward 
with all your heart ; be in earnest." 

To his parents : 

" Evangasimba Station, October 20, 1864. 

" This morning we got our mail away to Gaboon, 
and I am determined not to delay my letter-writ- 
ing so long. I would like to make my letters for 
home a record of current events. The pressure of 
business is over, and I am beginning to think of 
getting ready for my monthly trip to the stations 
on the mainland, and also of taking up again in 
earnest the study of the Benga. 

" I saddled Charley this afternoon, and took a 
ride to Alongo to see how Mr. and Mrs. De Heer 
were getting on in their new home. As I rode 
along the white and glistening beach I saw a 



188 GEORGE PAULL. 

fine picture of African life. Just by a clus- 
ter of cocoanut trees a batch of people were 
lounging on the sand, half in the sun and half 
in the shade. Some one had exerted him- 
self and pulled some cocoanuts, so the rest and 
he together were enjoying the fruit of his la- 
bor. They seemed to be happy as kings as they 
lounged on the sand, drinking the rich milk that 
the cocoanut gives without labor or price. One 
cocoanut was left as I rode among them, which 
they gave me, tearing off the thick outer husk so 
that I could easily get at the milk. After drinking 
my draught, and promising the boy who gave it 
some pay when he came to Evangasimba, I rode on 
to Mr. De Heer's. 

"Monday, October 24. — Yesterday was my day 
to preach at Gobi. On my way I saw what the 
Psalmist meant when he spoke of 'the dark places 
of the earth being full of the habitations of cru- 
elty/ and also I understood better the thought that 
was in Paul's mind when he spoke of the heathen 
as being 'past feeling.' A little fellow about ten 
years old was lying on the sand of the beach cry- 
ing with all his might. Three almost grown men 
had hold of his arms and legs and were scraping 
and scouring him (for he was almost covered with 



GEORGE PATJLL. 189 

sand) with pieces of bamboo as you would a pig. 
The fellows left off their work as I came up and 
commenced to explain that he was sick, and this 
was their manner of cure ; and I suppose this is 
the usual way of curing such diseases, but it makes 
one's blood run cold to think of its cruelty. The 
little fellow was covered with scabs and sores, and 
these they scraped with their sticks and sand until 
blood was coming from every sore ; then they sent 
him with his fresh and bleeding wounds to wash 
in the salt sea. My heart bled for the little fellow, 
but the chief work was done when I got there. 
They seem to have no tenderness of feeling, no 
sympathy with suffering; their hearts seem to be 
blunted by sin until they are hard as a rock. 
These skin diseases are remarkably common 
among the people, and are among the most 
pitiful and sickening sights that one meets with. 
I suppose they are brought on by their abomi- 
nable lives. Some of them live like beasts, and 
are besotted with almost every crime. Sometimes 
I have seen their noses eaten away, their bodies 
and limbs shriveled up at times. Often I see 
great and incurable ulcers in different parts of 
the body, and a sort of leprosy is common among 
them which makes their appearance loathsome. 



190 



GEORGE PAULL. 



Hundreds of years yet to come may not do 
away with these terrible sights. Little by little, 
as they learn to know the great Physician and 
seek his balm to heal the heart, many of their 
bodily ills will pass away, for a pure heart will 
make a holy life, and it is their impure life that 
brings their diseases. 

" Men at home do not know anything of Af- 
rica's sorrows. Poor people ! the heart that sees 
them can pity, but they need more than pity. 
Strong hands and kind hearts are needed — they 
are needed here by the score — who will point 
them to better things and help them to rise up 
and enjoy them. America, looking back from this 
land, gives one a peculiar feeling. It is impos- 
sible to convince one's self that ministers or Chris- 
tians there do one tithe of what they ought to for 
this wretched people. The land at home seems full 
of ministers, who crowd and jostle each other to 
get a little flock to whom they may give the bread 
of life, but they forget to turn and look for a mo- 
ment this way, where mighty hosts of these miser- 
able people are starving to death for lack of this 
very bread which they could so easily spare. 

" Tlmrsday, October 27. — This is one of Africa's 
most beautiful mornings. The thermometer stands 



GEORGE PAULL. 191 

between 75° and 80°, and the dryness of the air 
has been moistened and cooled by last night's rain. 
It is such mornings as these that make one think 
Corisco almost a paradise. The plantains all around 
with their great leaves wave and rustle in the 
breeze, and the orange trees begin to give forth a 
fragrant smell, for they are just now laden with 
delicate white blossoms and with the new growth 
of buds and leaves, and the lemon trees are full 
of rich green fruit, just a little more than formed. 
The wild flowers, too, are springing all around, 
and every footpath is made beautiful with them. 
Over the tree-tops clamber thousands of vines 
bearing a rich burden of beautiful bell-shaped 
flowers; and the great African lilies are putting 
out here and there in two or three different vari- 
eties. Indeed everything, since the rains are com- 
ing, is beginning to look beautiful and bright, and 
the air is almost enchanting, just warm enough to 
be pleasant, and kept fresh by a constant breeze 
from the sea. If anything else is needed to add 
to the pleasantness of this African home, then we 
have it in the songs of the birds which throng 
every bush and tree in hosts almost innumerable, 
and warble forth their constant songs sweeter and 
richer, I think, than any I have ever heard before. 



192 GEORGE PAULL. 

"The wife of my old friend JSTqume came this 
morning carrying a chicken and a bunch of plan- 
tains, but she would not sell them to Mrs. Mackey. 
She said Nqume had sent them as a dash (a pres- 
ent) to i Pauloo.' It is usually very nice to receive 
presents, but the case is somewhat different among 
this people : they think that every good turn de- 
serves another and a far better. If they give you 
a little thing they expect a big one in return. So 
as Nqume's wife went away she very quietly took 
hold of her cloth or dress, and pointing to it said 
that it was all she had, intimating that a new dress 
would be a very acceptable present. So I suppose 
I shall have to give her one. I gave Nqume a 
cloth some time ago, and he immediately suggested 
that he would like to have some tobacco, and not 
long after he modestly hinted that he ought to have 
a new hat also. 

" The people need but little clothing ; the usual 
dress of both men and women is simply a piece of 
cotton cloth or calico wrapped about them. This, 
with a string of beads and an old hat, if they can 
get one (though they are usually bareheaded), com- 
pletes the outfit. Some are beginning to wear 
shirts, which are made up by the girls in the 
mission, and some of those who have been under 



GEORGE PAULL. 193 

the instruction of the mission wear coat and pants. 
If one of the old headmen gets a present of a coat 
or hat he will wear it on particular occasions, but 
not ordinarily. 

" As I rode up to Gobi last Sabbath I met old 
Peter, the oldest headman, perhaps, on the island, 
and the one who was heir to the throne when the 
last king died, but he refused the honor. Peter 
is a little round-headed, funny-looking man, and 
when I met him he was dressed in his Sunday 
suit, which made him look all the more odd. He 
had a big silk hat, a little worse for the wear and 
somewhat dinged, a tremendous large coat made of 
heavy cloth and reaching to his knees, looked like 
an overcoat, and this he had buttoned. Thus he 
trudged along thinking himself finely dressed, 
though he was barefooted and barelegged to the 
knees. 

"November 1. — I would have been away to-day 
on my trip to the mainland, but concluded to wait 
another day for the mail. We saw the French 
steamer on her way to Gaboon. We are all anxious 
to get our letters. 

"I received by the last mail a note from Dr. 
Plumer. He says, 'I forewarned you, I believe, 
that your correspondence would fail to come up to 

13 



194 GEORGE PAULL. 

time. Jehovah Jireh' — the Lord will provide. 
So I find it — the Lord provides : and I would not 
fear any lack of happiness, come what might. 

" Lizzie in her long letter of July 26 gives me 
an account of the celebration of the 4th, and very 
vividly the whole picture comes up before me. I 
remember everything about home with strange 
distinctness. Every hill and valley, every farm 
and field, every tree and shrub and rivulet stands 
out so clearly in my mind that I seem to walk 
among them again. The features of every face are 
clear, and every voice sounds distinctly, so that I 
seem to be walking and talking among you as of 
old. It seems but a step home again, and I often 
pass through the front gate and up the yard, and 
into the house, and through every room and out 
again into the orchard or through the fields. All 
this gives me pleasure, but I am not unhappy when 
I come to myself and find that my home is here. 
On the contrary, my happiness is truer and purer 
here, at my sacred work in this dark land, than 
ever it has been in my life before. If God takes 
away some comforts, he well knows how to replace 
them with others which are fourfold richer and 
better. It is a good God that we serve ; all the 
treasures of his storehouse are thrown open to us 



GEORGE PAULL. 195 

when we draw near to him. Honey is not sweeter 
than is the love of Christ, when we keep near to 
him and constrain him by our importunity to abide 
with us. 

" My privations have not been very great, nor 
have I been called on to make sacrifices such as 
many other missionaries have made — at least not 
such sacrifices as the world will ever know of — 
but such as they are, already it seems to me accord- 
ing to the promise, a ' hundred-fold ; has been 
returned in spiritual blessings ; and the promise of 
'life everlasting } with its infinite fullness is yet to 
be made good. Happy are we whose God is the 
Lord. People of the world who know nothing of 
the love of Christ think us fools for rejoicing in 
him, but I think I can say that I am perfectly 
willing to be called a fool for his sake. It is no 
hazardous venture when we stake everything for 
time and eternity on the love and faithfulness of 
Christ ; but we only know T this when we have made 
the venture. 

" I am glad to learn that father's health is so 
much better and that everything about home is so 
prosperous and cheering. It was one of our gloomy 
forebodings when I thought of becoming a mission- 
ary that his health might fail, and when I would be 



196 GEORGE PAULL. 

most needed at home I would be far away among 
the heathen. But divine faithfulness crowns every 
step in the path of duty with blessings ; his health, 
instead of failing, has only grown better, and we 
will pray that it may still continue to do so. I am 
sorry to know that Mr. Burnet (pastor at C.) is so 
feeble as to walk on crutches. He has often been 
in my mind, and I trust I have sometimes been in 
his prayers. It is pleasant to hope that the Chris- 
tians about home, for whom I have a warmer 
regard than ever, sometimes remember me when 
they pray. Aunt E. ? s troubles are very sore. I 
suppose she is weighed down with sorrow and can 
hardly read aright the lesson that God is teaching 
her — ( Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.' If 
this is the way we are permitted to look at our 
sorrows, then the burden becomes light, and we are 
tempted to say, ' If by our sorrows we may know 
that thou dost love us, then, O Lord, let them 
come ! ? 

" Our mail came this evening, bringing a good 
long letter from mother, which was full of satisfac- 
tion, as her letters always are. As a correspondent 
I fear that none of us, her children, will ever equal 
her. A short letter also came from Mr. Mackey, 
and it gave us no little joy to know that he is now 



GEORGE PAULL. 197 

on his way back to Corisco, and will doubtless be 
here by the next mail. This will free me from the 
secular work, and then I will be a missionary. I 
had a letter from Rev. W. Thompson, in Glasgow, 
telling me that he expects to bring a wife out with 
him to Calabar. I met the lady in Scotland. 
African life will be a change for her, as she lived 
in splendid style, with every comfort that she could 
desire, in Glasgow. Since my letters have come, I 
start on my trip to-morrow morning to visit the 
stations on the mainland. 

" November 2. — Started to-day for Kombe and 
Benita; reached Iloby and stayed over night. 

" November 3. — Reached Aje and spent the night; 
preached to a full house. 

"November 4. — Eeached Hanje and spent the 
night. 

" November 5. — Reached Benita — -preached. 

"November 6. — Preached in three towns at 
Benita — placed Mbata there. Everything prom- 
ising. 

"November 9. — Reached home to-night. Landed 
on the east side and took tea with Mrs. De Heer. 

"November 19. — I have not written since my 
return from the mainland, and I will not say any- 
thing of the trip now. I am very well ; surely I 



198 GEORGE PAULL. 

never was in better health. Dr. Nassau remarked 
to-night that I looked younger than when I came. 
I visited Mr. De Heer the other day to give them 
some account of my mainland trip. They are 
greatly interested in the mainland work, and ex- 
pect to go there when Mr. Clark comes. My own 
opinion and the opinion of the rest of the mission- 
aries is, that the mainland is just as healthy as 
Corisco. The traders that live on the coast have 
just as good health as we. There is a mighty and 
a noble work to do here; other generations for 
hundreds of years to come may find an outlet to 
their zeal here, and I pray that the zeal in each 
coming generation may be a thousand-fold greater 
than it is now. If Christ is to get his inheritance 
among the heathen soon, then Christian parents 
must begin to teach their children to love missions 
at home around the fireside : there is where mis- 
sionaries grow. If the claims of the heathen and 
their deep wretchedness become a common topic 
around every Christian fireside, and if constant 
prayer also is made to God for them, then the next 
generation will see multitudes of earnest hearts 
hastening to heathen shores, where there is now 
but a lone traveler. 

" November 20. — I write a few lines to close my 



GEORGE PAULL 199 

letter to-night and give you the latest possible 
word. We have just come in from evening services 
at the church, which is at one end of our yard. 
We have been greatly troubled with thieves of 
late stealing chickens and plantains. Mrs. Mackey 
came out of church this evening for a moment and 
saw a fellow passing along in the dark by the 
house. We found his tracks when we came home, 
but that will not amount to much without the thief. 
We have the house and grounds all surrounded 
with a fence of sharp and strong pickets, but still 
they get in. They almost think it no harm to steal, 
particularly from white people; for they think 
their goods and property come to them for nothing. 
" Our ears have been stunned this evening, and 
indeed for several days, by a great drumming and 
noise at a town near by. The headman of the town 
is sick, and the people are trying to drive away the 
evil spirit that has made him sick. They dance 
and halloo and beat their drums, and make the sick 
man dance as long as he is able. This is a part of 
their medicine for sick people. I went to Gobi 
to-day to preach. As it rained nearly all day I 
scarcely expected anybody out, but I was surprised 
and glad to find twenty-five or thirty there from the 
towns." 



200 



GEORGE PAULL. 



"November, 1864. 

" I promised to send you some little sketch of 
my last trip to the mainland. Perhaps it may be 
of some interest, or at least entertain you a little; 
and if it does this it is well, for this is almost the 
only possible way left me of contributing to your 
enjoyment. Making these trips every month or six 
weeks is now my regular business ; and I really 
like the work better than anything else. It is mis- 
sionary work, preaching the gospel to those who 
have never heard it, talking to inquirers, and try- 
ing to help and encourage the scattered Christians 
that I find. This trip was partly with the design 
of establishing a new station up the coast some- 
where, which I did at the mouth of the Benita 
River, about fifty miles north from here. 

" I started November 2, after getting the Gaboon 
mail-boat away, w T hich had brought our letters the 
night before. Mrs. Mackey packed me a box of 
provisions, a more plentiful supply than I had the 
last time; and it shall be even more plentiful the 
next time, for I find that every comfort is just so 
much of a saving to the health. Mrs. Mackey, who 
is a willing and abundant provider, put up coffee 
and sugar and tea and a little pot to make them in. 
I had greatly missed the warm drink on the last 






GEORGE PAULL. 201 

trip, doing without it nearly a week. I had also a 
supply of beef and ham and bread ; the eggs and 
chickens that I needed were easy to get on the way. 
Mrs. Clemens added to my stock a little jar of jelly 
and one of maple molasses, and they proved a 
most valuable addition. A couple of shawls and a 
pillow I took for sleeping on, an overcoat also and 
umbrella for protection against the rain, and a 
change of clean linen. In a box I stowed knives 
and cloth and shirts and fish-hooks, etc., for buy- 
ing food for the men, and whatever the natives on 
the way might wish to sell. 

" With five boatmen, and Andike for an inter- 
preter, and several passengers who asked to go 
along to see friends on the mainland, we got away 
about ten o'clock in the morning. This time I es- 
caped seasickness and felt tolerably comfortable all 
the way. Andike had with him a bundle of hot 
eonelis or shell fish which his wife had cooked for 
him, and of which the people are very fond. He 
handed some of them to me, of w 7 hich I ate one or 
two (they are as large as an oyster), and found them 
rich as butter. They are a great article of food 
with the people. At every low tide you see hun- 
dreds of women out in search of them. About 
3 o'clock we reached Large Eloby, where we have a 



202 



GEORGE PAULL. 



station, but I only stopped a few moments, expect- 
ing to return that way. 

" Having the mission accounts to settle with the 
traders on Little Eloby, I went on there and spent 
the night. After breakfast on Thursday, 3d, 1 got 
off to Aje, my next stopping-place. One of our 
passengers was the wife of Imunga, the brother of 
the king on Corisco, but virtually the king himself. 
To give you an idea of queenly attire in Africa, I 
will describe her dress. Her hair was platted up 
in a heavy, greasy roll on the top of her head, and 
on this rested an old hat (man's hat), made secure 
to the hair with an iron pin six or eight inches 
long. Around her neck were some strings of 
beads. On her ankles and wrists were, I think, 
just one hundred and forty brass and copper rings. 
Besides these she wore a large cloth such as 
I have before described. This was her complete 
attire. 

"About 3 o'clock we reached Aje, and anchored 
in the mouth of the little river. I went to our 
mission-house, where Mackendenga and Ilanga, the 
Scripture readers, live. After taking a rest, they got 
ready something for the men and myself to eat. 
They seem to understand that a chicken is almost 
the only part of native food that a white man rel- 






GEORGE PAULL. 203 

ishes, so they immediately suggest one and get it 
ready. Their plan of cooking is simply to boil in 
an iron pot until thoroughly cooked, and then sea- 
son with cayenne pepper, which grows abundantly 
here. They bring the chicken on a plate and the 
broth in the bowl. The broth would be delicious 
and savory if it were not so terribly hot with pep- 
per. The men usually eat at the same little tables 
with me. They have a wash-basin full of unguesa 
(sliced cassada), which looks like cold sliced pota- 
toes. They dip their fingers into the dish, and eat 
this along with some hot fish and a part of my 
chicken, which they never refuse. 

" It is a strange custom these people have — when- 
ever you sit down to eat every one else not eating 
immediately goes out of the house and stays away 
until you are done. There is a natural dislike 
among them to have any one see them eat. An- 
other thing I notice, and I believe it is a universal 
custom in Africa, they never eat a morsel of food 
without taking some water afterward and washing 
their mouths. They all have good and beautiful 
teeth, too, so the one seems to be, partly at least, 
the consequence of the other. I heard great com- 
plaints here about the elephants coming into their 
farms and destroying their plantains, and they 



204 



GEORGE PAULL. 



do not know how to cope with so immense an 
enemy. 

"In the evening the bell was rung (a large 
dinner bell), and Mackendenga lighted the long 
roll of resin, which burns like our rosin and is 
the chief native light (there is a tree here which 
yields it abundantly), and the people began to 
gather for service. Soon all the seats were full 
and still the people came ; benches were brought 
in and they were all filled, until there was room 
for no more in the house. Then the people gath- 
ered about the door and in the little yard in front 
of the house until all available space was occupied. 
So I preached to them as they sat crowded together 
in the dim light, and as they stood about the door 
waiting to hear. I do not know that I ever had 
better attention than from these dusky children of 
sorrow, with minds even darker than their skins, as 
I opened the news to them of a fountain for sin 
and uncleanness, for sorrow and every human woe, 
and invited them to come and drink freely without 
money. I had a fine interpreter, and preached with 
great comfort and interest on my whole trip, for 
there is no work that I enjoy like preaching the 
gospel to the poor. My old interpreter I have 
exchanged for another (Andike) ; you will see his 



GEORGE PATJLL. 205 

name in the Foreign Missionary, often, as a licen- 
tiate and elder of the Church. He interprets with 
great fluency, and has a better knowledge of the 
English than almost any other native. 

"Friday, 4th. — Eight o'clock I got away for 
Hanje. I could find no hot water to make cof- 
fee, so I breakfasted on boiled duck eggs and soda 
crackers, with a little of Mrs. Clemens' maple syrup. 
At prayers, before starting, I had a full house again. 
I read and explained the Scriptures. The wife of 
the headman at this place hopes she is a Christian, 
and wishes to unite with the church. 

" About noon we reached Hanje, where Jumba 
and Etiane are the Scripture readers. We were 
obliged to anchor out from the shore on account 
of rocks, and a canoe came off for us. When we 
went ashore a crowd of people followed to the 
mission-house to sit and hear the news, for they 
have nothing to do but sit about all day, and 
wherever there is the least excitement they speed- 
ily follow it. After a while they brought in native 
baskets and wooden spoons and melanga to sell, 
some of which I bought. When we went in I 
saw that Jumba had a chicken tied by the leg in 
one corner of the house ; this he soon carried out 
and cooked for dinner. Here I at last got some 



206 GEORGE PAULL. 

hot water to make coffee, and this I relished, for 
boating is terribly hard work on the stomach, and 
some warm drink saves much discomfort. I could 
scarcely call my mixture coffee, though it tasted 
like excellent coffee to me. It was hot water 
poured on some ground coffee. This, after it 
had stood a few minutes, I poured out and sweet- 
ened and drank without cream. 

" I spent an hour or two after dinner up in that 
beautiful and solemn palm grove I spoke of on 
my other trip. Jumba paddled me up in a canoe. 
At the foot of one of the tall trees I found four or 
five men lying, and, looking up, I saw another in 
the top of the tree gathering palm w T ine. They 
tap the tree in the top and then fasten a great jug 
there, into which the wine runs. Every day or so 
some one goes up and dips out the wine, when it is 
brought down and divided. It is almost of a milk- 
white appearance, and will intoxicate after it be- 
comes a little old. The natives drink great quan- 
tities of it, but I believe that the rum which the 
traders bring to the coast is fast taking its place; 
death and destruction the traders are scattering in 
their path. 

u After a good sleep and a comfortable breakfast 
and prayers, we got away Saturday, 5th, for the 



GEORGE PAULL. 207 

Benita River. We bad to go out to the boat in a 
canoe, and these are uncomfortable to ride in, being 
like an egg-shell, and a trifle will topple them over. 
Just as I got in the canoe a breaker struck it and 
tumbled me over, but I fell inside and not in the 
water. After we got part way up the coast to Benita 
a man paddled out to us in a canoe, who had with him 
a little boy that had never seen a white man before, 
and he evidently thought me a strange being, for he 
began to cry and seemed to beg his father to take 
him away as quickly as possible. The man had 
never heard of God, nor of Christ, and as I had 
the Gospel of John, in Benga, lying near by me I 
read to him, ' God so loved the world that he gave/ 
etc., and explained the way of salvation, hoping 
that the truth might not only sink into his own 
mind, but that he might also bear it back to his 
people. 

" At last we came in sight of the Benita, a broad 
and beautiful river-- two or three miles wide, I 
judge, at the mouth. On the south side of it are 
several factories. I landed for an hour at one of 
them. The agent there I knew, and he is quite a 
genteel young Scotchman. He had been to Corisco 
to consult Dr. Nassau about his health. From 
there I sailed across the mouth of the river into a 



208 



GEORGE PAULL. 



beautiful little bay where I thought of establishing 
a station, and leaving Mbata, whom I had taken 
along. 

" While we were getting ready to land, men, 
women and children to the number of thirty, per- 
haps, gathered on the beach from the towns near 
by. When I landed among them they gave me a 
friendly welcome, shaking me by the hand and 
looking quite pleased. With the aid of And ike, I 
made them a little speech, telling them that I had 
come to stay a little while among them, and that 
perhaps I would leave them a missionary to teach 
them of God, etc., if they were willing. I then 
asked them if they could give me a house to live 
in while I stayed, but they did not wait to reply : 
off they started to the nearest town, which meant 
that I was to follow. Eight or ten men were in 
front, I came next, and after me the boatmen with 
the bago-atre, then the women and children behind. 
They never stopped till they came to the house 
of the headman, and into it the whole proces- 
sion went, boxes and all, and as many more 
people as were able crowded in along with the 
others. I then made them another little speech, 
explaining more fully why I had come and what 
we wished to do. 



GEORGE PAULL. 209 

"At night the people came again, filling the 
house to overflowing, and I preached to them as 
plainly and simply as I could the c Story of the 
cross/ which they never before had heard. How 
they listened ! I surely never before had better at- 
tention than I had there from these children of the 
night. There is a peculiar, indescribable joy in 
preaching the gospel to the benighted. I never 
was engaged in happier work ; nor do I know that 
I ever was happier than as I lay down that night 
in a little cheerless bamboo hut, all alone, and feel- 
ing that I was surely a stranger in a very strange 
land. It is a peculiar sensation that sometimes 
comes over me when out on these trips, though it 
is not unpleasant — I mean a sense of aloneness in 
the great, w r ide world — a feeling that I have no 
longer any place that can really be called home ; 
no place where there will be any warm heart- 
welcomes awaiting my return, and so the conse- 
quence is that I am happy and at home anywhere 
wherever the blue sky bends above me, whether it 
be on the sea or alone in the smoky hut of the 
Kombes. 

"November 6 was the Sabbath, which I in- 
tended to spend among the people where I stopped. 
In the morning the rain was pouring down in 

14 



210 



GEORGE PAULL. 



torrents, and so continued most of the day. I got 
up from my bed of bamboo slats, on which I had 
a comfortable sleep, and Tom (as he said the white 
men called him), my host, brought me some water 
to wash. After I had eaten my breakfast of coffee, 
eggs, sardines and bread — the latter I shared with 
Tom, for he said i I like white man's bread too 
much' — I went into the headman's house about 10 
o'clock to preach to the people. Soon they gath- 
ered and crowded the house, while I preached to 
them from Acts, on the ' Unknown God.' A more 
attentive audience I think I never saw, listening 
with a fixed gaze through the whole discourse. 
At 2 o'clock I preached in another town, and in 
the evening in a third. In all these was the same 
good attention. 

" As I got wet in the afternoon, going from one 
town to another, I stepped into the house next to 
the one I occupied to dry my feet by the fire. I 
found a little girl here, the betrothed wife of Tom, 
though she was only eight or nine years old. Tom 
had promised to send her down with me to Corisco 
to school ; but the moment she saw me she set up 
a terrible crying, enough to alarm the whole town. 
I do not know that she had ever seen a white man 
before. She was still full of tears on Monday 



GEORGE PAULL. 211 

morning, and on this account I left her till I 
should be ready to go back again. As I sat in 
my house I saw a man working away on his new 
house just across the narrow street. As Tom was 
standing near him I said, ■ Tom, don't you know 
this is Sunday V 'Yes/ said he, 'I done tell 
him so/ I do not know that the workman knew 
anything about Sunday or that he had ever heard 
of it before, but Tom had lived among w T hite men 
and learned something of the Sabbath. 

" Monday , November 7. — The headmen came 
together early to get some little present before I 
went away; this they always expect. I left Mbata 
in their care, charging them to treat him kindly, and 
telling them that if they did so, and attended well 
on his instructions, that we would probably build 
a mission-house among them. They were to give 
him one of their houses to live in for a few months, 
and after that we expect to build one for him. I 
got away about 8 o'clock on my return to Corisco, 
nearly the whole town following me down to the 
beach to bid me good-bye, and I feeling rather 
sorry to part with them, as my short stay had been 
so pleasant and had impressed me so favorably 
with them. The sea was smooth as glass as we 
sailed away, and the sky clear and beautiful. No 



212 



GEORGE PAULL. 



May morning in America was ever more lovely. 
As I looked up the broad river I had a fine view 
of the grand old mountains that run along the 
coast about forty miles back from the sea. There 
seem to be two or three ranges running parallel 
with each other, and just as bold and lofty as our 
mountains in Pennsylvania. 

" I hope the time is not far away when we shall 
be able to carry the work back among these ranges, 
and even behind them. Here is where the Fan 
tribe lives, the cannibals of whom Du Chaillu 
speaks in his work ; but they are a bold and 
thrifty people, and perhaps the gospel would 
take a deeper hold on them than on the more 
effeminate tribes nearer the sea. About noon we 
reached Hanje again, not intending, however, to 
stop, but an old headman came off to the boat 
with complaints against one of the Scripture read- 
ers, and his business was to have me go ashore and 
' talk the palaver.' This is the native way of set- 
tling a trouble — calling all the people in town to- 
gether and talking the matter over. This they 
call ' settling the palaver/ 

" I went ashore, and after the old man had col- 
lected the people in a large bamboo house he arose 
and made a speech stating all his grievances. I 



GEORGE PAULL. 213 

made them another one or two, trying to arrange 
the matter as satisfactorily as possible, and finally 
they declared the 'palaver settled/ This con- 
sumed a good deal more time than I have occu- 
pied in telling of it, for the discussion lasted 
long, and part of the time ran high among them- 
selves, and then it was like being in 'bedlam/ 
Every one would jump to his feet, gesticulating 
fearfully, running toward each other and shout- 
ing at the tops of their voices, giving also at the 
same time a significant shake of the forefinger in 
each other's faces. 

" We hurried on to Aje to spend the night, but 
the wind fell and the men had to take to their oars, 
so that we did not reach it till 9 o'clock at night. 
Every one w T as in bed, but Mackendenga heard the 
songs of the boatmen, as they usually sing some 
plaintive strain when they row (all their music, 
indeed, is of a somewhat mournful character), and 
came down to welcome us. I got a good night's 
rest here, and indeed I had begun to feel the need 
of it pretty badly. 

"November 8. — I was awake at daylight, and the 
people came around the house with mats and ducks 
and chickens to sell, some of which I bought and 
brought to Corisco, for it is beginning to be diffi- 



214 GEORGE PAULL. 

cult to get as much fresh food as we need. We 
landed again at a town two or three miles farther 
down the coast, where I expected to get a boy or 
two for the school. Evaha was the headman, and 
a pleasant, kind old man I found him to be. His 
son, a very nice boy, was to come with me, but had 
a sore foot, and I left him till another trip. As 
neither the men nor I had any warm food in the 
morning, we stopped long enough to have break- 
fast. I bought a very big fish and had it cooked 
with some plantains for them, and Evaha had a 
chicken cooked for me, which tasted savory, for 
my appetite had become strong by this time. 
Evaha made me a present of a bunch of plan- 
tains and divided his large cake of udika with 
me, because he saw that I liked it with my 
chicken. Udika is made of oily nuts pounded 
together and hardened into a large cake ; this they 
shave down with a knife and use it for thickening 
the chicken gravy. 

" I hoped that possibly we might reach Corisco 
to-day, but the wind was bad, and, after a whole 
day's sailing, we only reached Cape St. John in 
the night — twenty miles from Corisco. I had 
given up my intention of returning by Eloby, as 
the return thus far had been so tedious and weari- 



GEORGE PAULL. 215 

some, on account of bad winds, that I felt anxious 
to get home as soon as possible. 

" After a tolerably good night's sleep at Cape St. 
John, we left in the morning in the midst of the 
rain for Corisco. We had not got far out to sea 
when one of the principal ropes broke and fell 
through the pulley at the top of the mast. This 
rendered our sail useless. One of the boys climbed 
the mast to put the rope through the pulley again, 
but just as he was doing it a wave struck the boat 
and the mast cracked, and the boy had to come 
down. We then pulled back to shore into still 
water, and fixed the rope securely and got fairly 
under way again. We reached Corisco in the even- 
ing. I got out at the north side of the island 
(Alongo) and took tea with Mr. and Mrs. de Heer. 
They gave me a hearty, homelike welcome. The 
boys took the boat on to Evangasimba, and I 
walked down after night. I was gone a little 
over a week, and, after so much tossing on the 
waves in an open boat, I found the quiet and 
comfort of Evangasimba grateful enough. There 
is much that is wearisome about the mainland 
journeys, but it is the work that I like, and it is 
a field that promises to yield fruit if there is faith- 
ful sowing." 



216 GEORGE PAZJLL. 

In a letter to his mother and sister, dated Evan- 
gasimba, November 22, 1864, Mr. Paull writes: 

"It is only slowly that the low and fearfully 
wretched condition of these people becomes fully 
known to one. Crime and cruelty seem so essen- 
tially inwrought and mingled with their very in- 
most lives that one feels obliged utterly and for 
ever to despair of all human ability to make them 
better. If good is done among them we will surely 
scorn to take the praise, for in our hearts we must 
say, ' It is the hand of the Lord, and only that — 
from beginning to end it is of the Lord.' 

"A man came to me this morning to get some 
medicine, for both his ears were cut entirely off. 
He was charged with a crime which was indeed 
worthy of so severe a punishment, if he was guilty, 
but it ought to have been administered in a differ- 
ent way ; but for it his master had this punishment 
inflicted. They cut and carve each other with a 
brutality which makes the heart sick. You see it 
everywhere. Scarcely a person passes you that can- 
not show the scars of some horrid wound. On 
each of the backs of two of our Christian women, 
as they walked from church before me last Sabbath, 
I remember to have seen, perhaps, three long, fear- 
ful scars. I am astonished, now, at the little I 



GEORGE PAULL. 217 

knew of the depths into which humanity can sink 
and indeed has sunk in all heathen lands. I speak 
not of occasional outbreaks into sin and crime, but 
of the deep, dark and settled wickedness of the 
human heart, and of the thorough and awful cor- 
ruption which reaches to the very core and mani- 
fests itself everywhere. This, however, is the very 
thing which, instead of discouraging missionaries 
and Christians generally, ought to drive away all 
discouragement and doubt as to what we ought to 
do, and nerve every heart for earnest work, because 
it makes the path of duty so plain. It seems to 
say to every Christian, c See here what guilt, what 
corruption, what wretchedness, what terrible mis- 
ery, absolutely immeasurable woe V Letting it 
alone will not help it; for centuries that course 
has been tried, and every hour it is let alone 
the guilt is becoming blacker, the corruption 
deeper, the wretchedness more wretched, the mis- 
ery more awful ; the degradation goes on and will 
go on, if you let it alone, until as a putrid mass 
the heathen world sinks in ruin. They cannot be 
helped, then, except we help them; give them the 
strength of the right hand ; pull them out as from 
the fire by prayer and every means which God has 
ordained and will bless. 



218 GEORGE PAULL. 

" But I did not intend to take up my paper with 
a sermon. I wish, however, I could preach in 
American ears some of the things I have felt since 
I came to Africa. I would like to take a section 
of Africa, with all its darkness and crime and sor- 
row and pitiable woe, and put it down in the midst 
of the people, that they might see. I think there 
would be some tears, some pity ; I think there 
would be some warm and earnest resolves to do, 
some bitter regrets that more had not already been 
done. 

"December 3. — This evening I returned from the 
Gaboon, where I had a short but pleasant visit. 
The missionaries there are kind-hearted, and make 
one feel as much at home as if they had been old 
friends. They have beautiful homes, and every 
comfort that could reasonably be desired. Their 
houses are built on high ground, back from and 
overlooking the river. They have a beautiful 
view of the sea, also, and of the ships as they 
lie at anchor in the river below.* The Gaboon 
is in possession of the French ; they have built 

* On the left of the engraving is the mission chapel, a pleas- 
ant bamboo structure, in the rear of which is the cemetery ; to 
the right of the hill stand the school-house and the mission 
residence. 



GEOEGE PAULL. 219 

quite a town on it, and have a considerable num- 
ber of soldiers and government officers there. 
Several men-of-war also are kept constantly at the 
station. There are many English traders there also, 
which, with their ships lying in the river, give it 
the appearance of quite a business place. India 
rubber and ivory and palm oil are the chief articles 
of trade, and these are dealt in pretty largely. 
The Gaboon is an immense river, fifteen to twenty 
miles wide at the mouth. Even up where the 
town is and the mission station, it seems to be 
three or four miles wide. I did not find Mr. 
Mackey here, but we had letters from him saying 
that he was at Fernando Po, waiting for an oppor- 
tunity to get down. His letters tell us that he is 
not much better. The physician at Sierra Leone 
told him that he could not live in Africa, and that 
if he wished to save his life he had better return 
to America as soon as possible. 

" I found my letters at the Gaboon ; and surely 
I have not had such a gloomy package in many re- 
spects since I came to Africa. The death of Aunt 
S. was very, very saddening, and so entirely unex- 
pected. I do not yet realize it ; it seems such a 
terrible breaking of old associations and plans of 
happiness which you all had doubtless formed in 



220 GEORGE PAULL. 

having her so near. So she is gone ! I look back 
with strange feelings to see how our friends are 
crumbling away — one and another dropping into 
the grave, and leaving great blanks in our hearts 
which nothing on earth can fill." 

After referring to the death of several other 
friends, he says : " The wheel of Providence keeps 
turning majestically on, breaking up for ever the 
surface of social life, and crushing beneath it un- 
sparingly each one's most cherished plans j and this 
is only kindness to us on God's part — he chastens 
only because he loves ; if he designed to ruin us, 
he would simply leave us alone. 

"But I almost forgot these sorrows in the joy 
that I found when I read that James had united 
with the church. I had been long waiting and 
asking for it. I trust it will not be long until Jo- 
seph gives his heart to God. Every day that a 
Christian lives he sees more and more the wisdom 
of his choice, and only wonders that he forgot his 
God so long. He that has acted the most wisely 
in life is the one who has given his heart the soon- 
est to God — given it wholly. 

"December 13. — I am sitting in my study to- 
day, writing up for the mail ; for I expect to go 
and visit the out-stations again next week. I hear 



GEORGE PAULL. 221 

the wild pigeons cooing all around and the birds 
trilling most beautiful songs. The wild flowers 
cover the ground just before the door, and the air 
is as pleasant as on any June day at home. It is a 
great mistake to suppose that Africa is such a 
desolate, dreary land as some imagine — scorched 
with hot suns and stifling winds, and covered with 
burning sands. I would almost venture to say, 
that in most respects there is not a more delightful 
land on the face of the globe. If your early June 
days, with their green fields and fresh air and 
singing birds, lasted all the year round, then you 
would realize something of the beauty and pleasant- 
ness of Africa. I do not know that I have seen 
the thermometer above 80°, and when the sun 
would be hottest we usually have clouds to temper 
its beams ; and then the fresh sea breeze always 
gives life to the atmosphere about us. But if I 
said no more than this I w T ould not tell you the 
whole truth ; for you would think that in such a 
land as I have described one might be for ever re- 
newing his youth, and have good hopes of living 
to a great age. But not so ; while Africa carries 
beauty in her right hand, she holds death in her 
left — she poisons while she pleases. It seems 
strange that, in a land so lovely, white men wither 



222 GEORGE PAULL. 

away until they become thin, sallow, care-worn 
shadows ; and yet they hardly know why, and, in- 
deed, are scarcely conscious of the change that is 
going on, so subtle and deadly is the poison. I sup- 
pose it arises from the constant decay of vegetable 
matter, from which poisonous gases rise up and 
mingle in every breath we draw. 

"We have a Scotch botanist and conchologist 
staying with us for a few days, making some col- 
lections. He has been pointing out some plants 
new to me, as the arrow-root, which grows abun- 
dantly all around, and the castor-oil plant, from 
the bean of which castor-oil is made. 

"December 15. — To-day, for recreation, Dr. Nas- 
sau proposed a little boat ride to a beautiful island 
half a mile in extent and a mile or two out at sea. 
We took the school children and the ladies along. 
Just as we were nearly there we saw a vessel 
about to anchor near Corisco. So as soon as we 
were landed at the little island, I took the boat and 
boatmen and went to bring Mr. Mackey ashore, 
for we knew that he was aboard the vessel. 
Everybody was glad to see him back again, for 
he is greatly beloved here. His health is not 
much better, and it is not likely that he will be 
able to stay here long." 



GEORGE PAULL. 223 

From Mr. PaulPs diary we take the follow- 
ing brief notes : 

"December 20. — To-day just recovering from the 
eighth attack of fever. Am preparing to go again 
on my trip to Benita. Am reading Wordsworth's 
' Excursion/ 

" December 22.— Started again with Dr. Nassau 
for Benita. Arrived at Aje. Had a full house to 
preach to. Bought a little house. 

" December 23. — Reached Benita in the evening. 
Preached to a great houseful. 

" December 24. — Spent the day in examining the 
grounds in search of a site for the mission-house. 
Came on fresh elephant and deer tracks. 

" December 25. — Christmas. Preached twice at 
Benita and visited towns up the coast, talking 
to the people. 

" December 26. — Left Benita and reached Hanje. 
Had a long walk along the beach, and dined on 
roasted corn. 

" December 27. — Reached Aje again. Started in 
the night for Eloby. 

"December 28. — Reached Eloby in the night. 
Sick at Eloby. 

"December 29. — Reached Corisco about 10 
o'clock. 



224 GEORGE PAULL. 

"December 31. — Preached in church at Evanga- 
siuiba on Christian earnestness. Preparatory sermon 
to communion. 

"January 1, 1865. — Communion. Large turn- 
out of people. One baptism — Ndate's wife. 

"January 8. — Busy making preparations to go 
and live on the mainland at the mouth of the 
Benita River, where the mission a few days ago ap- 
pointed me to go and build a station that I might 
the better overlook the mainland stations." 

To his mother he writes from Corisco, January 
12, 1865: 

"I think I was just about preparing for another 
trip to Benita when I finished my last letter to you. 
Dr. Nassau went with me, and we had in many 
respects a most delightful trip, though the doctor 
was sick most of the time; he cannot bear the 
tossings of the sea. Nausea does not now trouble 
me, and I can eat on the boat when out for a whole 
day. I think I shall become quite a boatman 
after a while, as my work among the stations will 
call me almost constantly up and down the coast. 

" Our trip this time was partly to examine the 
point at the mouth of the Benita River on which 
we propose to build a permanent station. V\e 
spent two days there, one of which was the Sab- 



GEORGE PAULL. 225 

bath. On Saturday we looked for a site to build, 
and selected a beautiful point right in the angle 
between the mouth of the river and the sea. I 
think I have scarcely seen a more attractive spot 
on the coast of Africa. The cool and refreshing 
sea-breeze sweeps over it constantly, and behind 
there is a broad and beautiful plain entirely free 
from trees with the exception of a cluster here and 
there. A grassy plain is one of the rarest and most 
attractive sights in Africa, and we think that such 
a spot near to one's home adds more to one's 
health than anything else, on account of the 
absence of decaying vegetation. The site is 
tolerably elevated, and gives you a view of the sea 
that stretches far away to the west. There is not 
much doubt that this will be altogether as healthy 
a place as on the island. The traders who live 
across the river enjoy excellent health. The people 
are quiet and most kindly disposed, and withal 
most anxious to have a missionary. 

" I brought down four boys to school this trip, 
and was to bring my friend Tom's little wife, of 
whom I wrote in my last letter, but when we were 
about to start and Tom looked for his wife she was 
nowhere to be found. She had run off to hide 
herself. At last, when we were just getting in the 

15 



226 GEORGE PAULL. 

boat, Tom saw her away up the beach and ran to 
fetch her, but she was off like an antelope, and so 
I had to come without her. Tom seemed mortified 
at the mishap, as he had already asked for a pas- 
sage by my next trip to come down and see his 
wife at Corisco. The wind was very much against 
us, and we made only a few miles in the day. 
When we sailed five or six miles we sailed to shore 
and walked along the beach to Hanje, and let the 
men row the boat. This walk was a pleasant little 
episode in our trip. We landed at a little new 
town, ground for which had just been cleared out 
of the heavy timber. The people all (twenty or 
thirty in number) came down to the shore, and by 
their bright, happy faces seemed to give us a 
hearty welcome. As the tide was full along the 
beach we concluded to wait an hour or so till it should 
go down. As we had brought a bucket of pro- 
visions from the boat, we sat down and ate. Around 
the town was about an acre of corn just ready to 
roast. So we had three ears apiece roasted and sat 
down on native stools in front of the headman's 
house to enjoy our feast, the people all about us 
in a circle, delighted and making merry. Before 
we commenced to eat we each asked a silent bless- 
ing, and there was a hush among some of the 



GEORGE PAULL. 227 

people and a quiet murmur, as though they were 
inquiring among themselves what it meant. One 
of the women who had somewhere learned some- 
thing of religion, immediately said 'Akalakia' (he 
prays). 

" We had salt for our corn, but no butter. The 
fat from a cooked ham, however, melted on the hot 
corn, answered in its place. One of the women 
sympathized with the doctor in his seasickness, and 
went through the motion of seasickness to show him 
how boat-riding always affected her. When we 
had finished our meal and sat a little while, we had 
prayer with them, and spoke to them of the gospel, 
and then went on our way, leaving them delighted, 
and delighted ourselves with the visit. I do not 
remember to have had a more pleasant little inter- 
lude in Africa. The doctor was weak and could 
only walk slowly, and was obliged to rest often, so 
we were after night getting to Hanje. The latter 
part of the way was rough and rocky, and we had 
a creek to cross into w T hich I tumbled in the dark- 
ness and was wet above the knees. I suffered no 
inconvenience from it, however, for we soon got to 
the mission station, and I took off my wet clothes 
and put on a pair of Njumba's pants and went to 
bed. The boat did not arrive till late at night. 



228 GEORGE PAULL. 

" We had to cross also a river about a hundred 
yards wide; but over this we were ferried in a 
canoe. There was a large town on the opposite 
bank and plenty of people gathered about us ; to 
these also we preached the gospel. Some of them 
followed us a short distance and then gave us their 
parting salutation, which is/ keke bwamu'(go, good), 
something like our ' fare ye well/ I like the peo- 
ple for their simplicity and kindness of heart. 
Sometimes an incident occurs among them to make 
one laugh. As we were sitting beside rather a 
fierce-looking old headman on the Benita, suddenly 
he took us by the beards, and, shaking them vigor- 
ously, said we ought to cut them off, especially 
about the mouth, as he thought it must hinder one 
greatly in eating. Most white men here allow the 
whole beard to grow, thinking it perhaps more 
healthy, and indeed not caring to shave. But few 
of the natives have any beard, except perhaps a lit- 
tle tuft on the chin ; and they greatly envy the 
long beards of the white men, and some of them 
say, ' God is not good to them because he gave them 
so little/ Some of the boys inquire very earnestly 
if there is not something in the white man's 
country that can be rubbed on the face to make the 
beard grow. 



GEORGE PAULL. 229 

" We started from Hanje about 4 o'clock in the 
morning so as to get the land breeze, but did not 
even then reach Aje till late in the evening. After 
two or three hours' rest at Aje, we set off again 
about 11 or 12 o'clock in the night, so as to have 
the land breeze and tide in our favor. By hard 
sailing we reached Eloby at 8 o'clock in the night, 
and from there we were glad to get back to Corisco 
by the next morning, having been gone over a 
week. 

" I greatly love the missonary work in Africa. 
I do not know that I have ever been so completely 
happy in any work as in this. My prayer is that 
God may spare me here for many years. The peo- 
ple are deeply in need of the word of life, perish- 
ing sadly without it ; and, alas ! we are so few and 
our hands so feeble that we cannot do a tithe of 
the work that it seems criminal to leave undone. 
Mr. Mackey is back, and his health is much better. 
This gives me a joyful release from so much secular 
labor, and now I am about to enter fully on the 
work that in my heart I love. In your last letter 
you asked me not to go to the mainland. I think 
I can appreciate your feelings and sympathize with 
you in them. But you can scarcely realize the ne- 
cessity that we feel here for pushing on the work 



230 GEORGE PAULL. 

among the tribes that yet sit in darkness. Our 
hearts burn to raise the torch higher and carry it 
farther, until it shall gladden the tribes who now 
perish in gloom. AVe came here to serve God and 
to do his work ; so death cannot touch us, nor even 
the floods drown us, until God is ready ; and when 
God is ready, then 'it is well/ You will not be 
grieved, then, I know, when I tell you that God 
has brought me into high honor, the highest by far 
of my life — that is, to leave my home and comforts 
again, and go to live among the heathen anew. 
This will not give you sorrow, I know, because it 
will give me more happiness and joy than aught 
else almost that I could name on earth. The mis- 
sion, at our last meeting, appointed me as the 
pioneer of the work on the mainland. Others 
would willingly have gone, but God gave the 
privilege to me, and indeed his providence has 
gradually been opening up my way ever since I 
came. 

" For the last few days I have been packing 
boxes with tools for building and goods for trade, 
and next week I am to set sail for the mouth of the 
Benita, that beautiful spot on which I am to build. 
Mr. and Mrs. Mackey will possibly take the trip 
with me, and see me safely landed. I shall take 




Building at Benita. 



p. 231. 



GEORGE PAULL. 231 

everything along that will be needful for my pres- 
ent comfort, and perhaps I may also get back to 
civilization every two or three months. Mrs. 
Mackey and Mrs. McQueen will supply me with 
cooking apparatus, and I will get plenty of pro- 
visions from the storehouse : so you need have no 
uneasiness about these things. As for loneliness, 
that will not trouble me, and the slight fevers 
which sometimes come I have learned to check ; 
so with trust in God I shall do well. 

" The plan of my house I have drawn off to send 
you. It is to be built of bamboo, with board floors. 
The reception-room is made large, as it will be the 
preaching place. The kitchen will be outside, and 
a little hut will answer for that. It is to be built 
above ground on mangrove posts. I suppose it 
will take about two months to finish it, and in the 
mean time I expect to live in a native house. So 
far as comforts go I shall have enough in every 
way, for I will not expect many. But I shall be 
able to tell you more fully of my situation in my 
next letter. 

" Our new mission station among the Kombes 
will require some outlay, and the Board is pressed 
for funds. If matters become worse, I think I 
could live on half my salary, and I would gladly 



232 GEORGE PAULL. 

do it to help on the cause ; but this need not have 
been spoken of. For the present press, however, 
we greatly need a new boat ; it will cost perhaps 
two hundred and fifty dollars, and w r e propose if 
possible to raise it by private contribution. Cousin 
L. B. by the last mail wrote to me to let her know 
if I needed anything, so I am sure she w T ill contri- 
bute, and Dr. Nassau will perhaps write to some 
friends. If any of our friends, or the friends of 
missions in the church at home, cared to do any- 
thing, it would be a gratification and a great help 
to the cause. I am sure God will not let us sink, 
but will put it into the hearts of some who love 
his name to help on the work. 

"P. S. — January 17. — I must append a note on 
the eve of starting. In the morning I expect to 
go. We had a delightful prayer-meeting to-night 
which strengthened my heart, and I go to my 
work full of peace and joy, and hopeful that I 
may gather some sheaves from the great ripened 
harvest. Do not think of me as in the least sad 
or lonely. I almost feel sure that I shall not 
be either. God has been preparing me hitherto 
for all that is to come upon me. I shall have good 
company in the presence of Him who has said, 'I 
will never leave thee nor forsake thee/ ' Lo, 1 am 



GEOEGE PAULL. 233 

with you alway, even unto the end of the world/ 
And I doubt not I will learn more of this kind 
friend when my fellowship must be almost solely 
with him. I seem almost to be going out as a mis- 
sionary anew ; I have all the joy of such a step, and 
it gives me a little sadness, too, at parting with my 
brethren and sisters. Much love, etc. 

"Geo. Paull." 

He wrote under date of February 1 5 to Mr. and 
Mrs. Mackey concerning the new mission station at 
Benita. " The place grows in beauty. I think I 
am safe in saying that I have seen no place on the 
face of the earth that so gladdened my heart. Its 
beauty, along with the general good progress of 
everything, has kept me entirely from growing 
lonely or even sick, except the slightest possible 
attack of fever. I trust that the outward pros- 
perity which thus far seems to attend and encour- 
age the work here may be a forecasting of the spir- 
itual blessings that may follow when the station 
is fully manned and the work thoroughly entered 
into. 

" The attendance at church continues most en- 
couraging. Quite a number were down from 
Meduraa last Sabbath. Though there was rain 



234 GEORGE PAULL. 

in the morning, yet about one hundred and twenty- 
found their way out to church." 

The following note to Mrs. Clemens, at Corisco, 
is from Benita River Station, February 16, 1871 : 

" I did not have time by the last boat to drop 
you a reply to your kind note of the second. I was 
glad to get it. Kind words and assurances of 
friendly regard are of wondrous worth, and my 
package of letters will never be so large but that 
I will be glad to have others added by friends at 
Corisco. 

"There is much that is cheering about the work 
among this people, and it is really delightful to be 
among them. I know this is ploughing in new 
soil, and one cannot judge from first appear- 
ances what the more permanent state of things 
may be. But for the present, at least, everything 
is exceedingly encouraging; and indeed I do not 
know why they should not always remain so; I 
mean if we do our part. I have exceeding faith 
in the faithfulness of God. If he has said he will 
give his spirit I think he means it; I think too he 
is far more willing to save souls than we are to 
have them saved. When, therefore, there is dead- 
ness in the church and sinners are not being con- 
verted, the fault is not God's but ours. I do 



GEORGE PAULL. 235 

believe in my heart that if we missionaries and all 
Christians lived as I am sure we ought to live, and 
as some have lived, there would be a revival all 
the year round, and sinners would be inquiring the 
way to Zion all the while. God's faithfulness and 
his promises in the Scriptures fully warrant such a 
belief. When no blessings come down we are apt 
to throw the blame on God, but do it in the form 
of a modest apology for him, saying, ( His time is 
not come yet/ I am ashamed whenever I think 
this, for it is dishonoring to God. It is casting 
on him that which only results from our own 
indolence and lack of spirituality. God's time to 
glorify himself and save sinners is always here. 
I believe there is no time when he is more ready 
than at any other." 

Extracts from his journal : 

" January 18. — God has given me to see this, one 
of the gladdest days of my life. This morning I 
sailed from Corisco to build my home among the 
heathen at the mouth of the Benita on the main- 
land. Mr. and Mrs. Mackey came with me as far 
as Hanje, where we arrived at dark. We brought 
two boats, which carried my building tools, clothing, 
food and goods for purchases. Mrs. Mackey and 
Mrs. M'Queen have shown great kindness in fitting 



236 GEORGE PAULL. 

me out with everything necessary for housekeep- 
ing. I take Upingalo along for cook and house- 
keeper. 

"January 19. — This morning, after breakfast at 
Hanje, the people came together to talk their 
palaver with us for passing by them and going to 
Benita River. TVe explained our reasons fully, 
but they were not satisfied, and declared if we did 
not build with them that the Scripture readers 
must leave, and that the house and everything 
must be taken away. They had made threats 
against the Scripture readers, and had declared that 
they would burn or tear down their house. AVe 
told them that our plans were already made and 
that talking was useless; so about 10 o'clock I 
started with the boats and men, leaving Mr. and 
Mrs. Mackey there to await the return of the 
larger one. Reached Benita about 10 o'clock and 
met with a most joyous welcome. Every one 
seemed overflowing with gladness. They gave me 
gladly the best house in town to live in, and ran 
with great haste to carry up my boxes and stow 
them away. Upingalo arranged things nicely, and 
at tea-time set me a nice table with snow-white 
cloth and tea-set. He brought me coffee with goat's 
milk, butter and good bread and ham, which Mrs. 






GEORGE PAULL. 237 

Mackey had provided ; tea-cakes, a large tin of 
which Mrs. McQueen had made me, served as a 
kind of dessert. My house is tolerably neat and 
clean. It is bamboo, good size, with one outside 
door, but no windows save a little one about two 
feet by ten inches. I am provided with a good 
mattress, blankets and mosquito-net. 

"I had a houseful at prayers — read and ex- 
plained part of the first chapter of Genesis. May 
God make me a blessing to this people ! 

" January 20. — This morning I arose refreshed 
by a tolerably good sleep. After breakfast I took 
some men to cut a path and went to look at a place 
for building. I selected one of the most charming 
spots, I think, I have ever seen — a bluff about 
fifteen or twenty feet high and about one hundred 
yards back from the beach. On the top of the 
bluif the land is almost level, and runs back about 
a mile in a beautiful plateau of almost entirely 
clear land. The view from it extends into the 
river and away over the sea. A strong and con- 
stant sea-breeze sweeps over it almost day and 
night. To-morrow the king and headmen are 
to meet me and sell me the land, and I commence 
to build. The old king and several headmen were 
to see me this afternoon. They say they are very 



238 GEORGE PAULL. 

glad to have some one to live among them and 
teach them about God and how to be good, for 
some of the people are very bad. 

"The man whose house Upingalo uses for a 
kitchen came to see how much I would pay him 
for the use of it. He thought he ought to have 
two dollars a month, but at last agreed to come at 
the end of a month and receive one dollar. I went 
with Ume (the carpenter) this afternoon and cut 
the fork of a tree to hang the grindstone on. The 
next thing will be to set and file the saw, so as to 
be ready for building. 

" The house that I now live in is quite comfort- 
able. The large room, which I use as a reception- 
room, study, dining-room and sitting-room, is about 
fourteen by sixteen feet. The walls are about eight 
feet high, and there is no ceiling between me and 
the rafters. The rain, as it pours down to-night, 
knocks the soot from the roof on the paper, but 
Upingalo will remedy that soon by the use of a 
broom. The other room is about eight feet by 
twelve, and has no window or door to admit the 
light except a little one three feet by one-half. 
This is nearly always closed to keep out the 
thieves, for here our treasures are kept. It is 
pantry and store-house and bed-room. Chests 






GEOBGE PAULL. 239 

and dishes and trade-goods and bread and meat, 
etc., are all stowed here. The whole house has a 
floor of newly-pounded clay, which is comfortable 
enough and looks clean. I had a board tied up in 
the large room for books, etc., and another in the 
small one to put the dishes on. There is a rope 
stretched across the room on which to hang coats, 
towels, etc. 

"As I came in from cutting the grindstone 
frame I found a pile of bark burning away like 
a small coal-pit, and when I inquired I found it 
was a miniature pottery. They make very nice 
vessels for water, holding about a quart, out 
of clay, figured over on the outside, and very 
much the shape of a small iron pot. When they 
have made them they put them into a pile and 
pile bark around to burn them. When done they 
are quite hard and serviceable. They make pipes 
in the same way — pipes, too, that show the skill of 
an artist. 

" I saw some men and women this evening going 
out to watch all night in their gardens, which are 
about half a mile away. This is the only way 
they can keep the elephants from destroying their 
food. I tried to show them how they might dig 
pits at their crossing places and catch the elephants, 



240 GEORGE PAULL. 

but that seems to them too much trouble. All the 
old garden-spots that I see have the remains of a 
lodge where the uight watchers slept." The reader 
will at once be reminded of that passage in Isa. i. 
8, " The daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a 
vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. ,, 

"We had a full house at prayers, and I read 
and spoke to attentive listeners about the creation 
of man. The three native Christians that came 
with me gathered into my room after prayers, and 
we sang Benga hymns together till 8 o'clock. They 
had no desire to leave off, although they had not 
yet had their suppers. It is a delightful thing to 
have these Christians with me — they seem like 
brethren indeed in a land of heathen. I hope 
they will do great good among the people. To- 
day I set Mbata (the Scripture reader) to teaching 
a school, which he has been doing in some sort 
before. Big men and little boys go and are busy 
learning the A, B, C. Some of them, too, have 
now learned to spell. A headman from across the 
river came to see me to-day and brought me a 
present of a chicken, and I had, of course, to give 
him in return a present worth more than the 
chicken. 

" I have an almanac for 1865 which Mr. Mackey 



GEORGE PATJLL. 241 

brought out and presented me. This keeps my time 
as to the days and weeks, and I have a big silver 
watch which I bought from Mr. Mackey. This 
tells me how the hours go. For calling the peo- 
ple together for prayers, I have a shrill whistle 
(for we have no bell as yet) which Mr. M'Queen 
used and which Mrs. McQueen gave me. I hope 
to hand this back to her, however, whenever any- 
body is kind enough to send us a bell from 
America. 

" The missionaries in Corisco feel a great inter- 
est in this mainland undertaking, and they treated 
me with great kindness and did everything for my 
comfort that they could when I left. Surely it is 
not vain and dishonest talk when I say that I can- 
not see why God should treat me so kindly and 
give me every comfort and enjoyment that I need, 
so that in this land of darkness I am as truly 
happy, I think, as I have ever been in my bright- 
est days at home, among friends that I love and 
surrounded by whatever we thought could make 
life enjoyable. 

"January 21. — This morning the old king and 
the headmen came together to sell me some ground 
for the mission buildings. I sat down and told 
them my object in coming among them, and what 

16 



242 GEORGE PAULL. 

I would expect on their part, viz., a good attend- 
ance on missionary instructions, and when their 
people stole anything from me that they were to 
have it returned, also that I was to have a voice 
in their palavers and councils, etc., etc., to all of 
which they agreed. Poor people ! I feel greatly 
attached to them; and they are very kind, and 
yielded almost everything to me that I asked. 
They are wonderfully anxious to have a mission- 
ary among them, and say they want very much 
to be taught about God. Mine will be a fear- 
fully responsible work. I shall need grace every 
hour. 

" The land thus bought for the mission, I think, 
is the most beautiful spot on which my eye ever 
fell. Among the hills of Pennsylvania or the 
prairies of the West or amid the rich scenery of 
Scotland I do not think I ever saw anything that 
made my heart so glad. Beautiful, beautiful, 
beautiful, is all I can say that would be anything 
like an adequate description. I went out this 
afternoon and stretched myself on its green sward 
under the shade of a tree, and as I looked up I 
am sure my heart swelled with gladness that I 
was in a land so lovely and engaged in a work 
so blessed. I scarcely get time to sit down for a 



GEORGE PAULL. 243 

moment but the people gather about me, and if I 
commence to learn the language from them their 
faces grow bright and they take great delight in 
helping me. 

" On the land are two springs w r hich the people 
say never go dry. I was careful to have them 
within the line, so that there might be no failure 
of water. Near one of them I notice there are 
four different varieties of beautiful wild flowers, 
which, if they could be transplanted to America, 
would be esteemed treasures. 

"January 22. — This has been a delightful Sab- 
bath. I spent the morning in thinking over the 
first three chapters of Genesis. At 10 o'clock and 
at night in my sermons I dwelt on the creation 
and fall and the evil of the heart as described by 
Paul in the first chapter of Romans, trying at the 
same time to give some impression of the greatness 
and sovereignty of God. I think these most im- 
portant subjects just at the beginning of my work. 
Both morning and night I had fixed attention ; at 
night, especially, it seemed very solemn. At morn- 
ing service there was an audience of between sev- 
enty and eighty people, crowded together in the 
little native house and about the door. One, at 
least, and perhaps more, came a distance of eight 



244 GEORGE PAULL. 

or ten miles to hear the gospel. I asked him if 
his heart believed the things he had heard. He 
said, 'Yes, or else I would not come so far to 
hear.' At night there were about fifty present. 
I started a Sabbath-school in the afternoon, to 
which about thirty men, women and children 
came. The native Christians taught them a 
while, and then I spent the rest of the time in 
trying to explain to them the way of salvation. 
My friend Tom seems seriously attentive, and the 
young men tell me this evening that he has been 
asking them to teach him how to pray. Perhaps 
God will bless our work here, and then the pray- 
ers that I have tried to offer for a long time will 
be answered. I will pray and work and wait. I 
trust God will yet use me for his glory. The peo- 
ple in town have behaved in a very orderly way, 
and with great apparent respect for the day of God. 
"January 23. — This Monday active work com- 
mences in the way of preparation for the new 
house, and it makes quite a stir about the little 
town, for every one is anxious to earn a cloth or a 
hat, etc. Out of the number of applicants I hired 
some twenty. Part of them went to cut and carry 
posts to set the house on, the remainder with their 
cutlasses I set to clearing off the ground ; cutting 



GEORGE PAULL. 245 

away bushes and making a road to the beach. 
Some of the number are women, and they hack 
away w T ith their cutlasses as well as the men, when 
the work is light. They form a merry group of 
workmen. I have been among them most of the 
day showing them what to do. In the evening 
they gathered about my house to know how much 
they were to be paid. 

"Upingalo (the cook) thinks he has too much 
to do; so Ngombalonda came to-night (a nice 
bright boy, who had been Mrs. M'Queen's table 
and pantry boy), and he is to stay and help and go 
on with his studies. I let him stay, chiefly in hope 
that I might be able to do him some good. I am 
to teach the four mission boys, Upingalo, Ume, 
Mbata and Ngombalonda, in the evenings. As 
they are all Christians except the last, I find great 
pleasure in having them about me. I read a chap- 
ter with them in Benga, and explain it as we go 
along. Beside this, they are to study geography 
and arithmetic, etc. This is in my own room. 
We have public prayers every morning and even- 
ing, which many people attend. I read a chapter 
and discourse on it, and we then sing a hymn and 
have prayer. 

" While the young men were in my room 



246 GEORGE PAULL. 

to-night, they asked me if I had a father. I said 
i Yes/ and showed them his picture. They looked 
at it and said, i Ah, he is a good man, very good. 
He is old ; he was a good man when he was 
young/ 

" Upingalo — 'Tell him Upingalo says he is an 
old man/ 

" Ume — i Tell him when I go to America I will 
see him. This face looks like yours/ 

" Age is the great thing in a man, with them, 
which demands reverence and respect. I had a 
letter from Mr. Mackey to-day, saying that the 
trouble at Hanje was all amicably settled before 
he left. 

" January 24. — This evening closes a busy day, 
and also brings a good deal of weariness with it. 
I have about twenty-five workmen on my list who 
require to have everything that is to be done 
marked out for them; and then they are to be 
w r atched while they are at it, lest they make a mis- 
take. I have four out of the twenty-five posts on 
which the house is to stand already in the ground, 
and to-morrow evening I hope to have the rest. 
We put them down three feet in the ground. I 
try to find out the best and most sensible w T orkmen, 
and then act as headman for the rest. Plenty of 



GEORGE PAULL. 247 

spectators come and stand about to see what is go- 
ing on. The patent tape-line and the spirit-level 
call forth wonderful admiration. I am having a 
road cut around the ground; in some places the 
workmen actually have to tunnel through the thick 
hush, leaving a perfect roof of bushes and limbs 
overhead. 

"Our evening prayer was delightful to-night; 
over thirty were present, to whom I spoke about 
half an hour plainly and personally. I never saw 
more fixed attention and more unmistakable in- 
terest in what was said, I cannot but hope that 
God will bless his truth to the people. One man 
spoke in reply for the rest, and his words showed 
that the truths they had heard were setting them 
to thinking. 

u January 25. — The list of workmen has in- 
creased to thirty to-day. They work faithfully, 
carrying tremendous loads of timber, as much 
as twelve of them can stagger along with. They 
are good-natured and even jolly. The women hack 
away with their cutlasses, though they do not ac- 
complish very much. I sent four of them this 
morning to cut a path on the other side of a ravine 
near where we are building the house. But from 
some superstitious notion they were afraid to go. 



248 GEORGE PAULL. 

They said men might work there, but they would 
die if they went. We came to a place the other day 
from which the men, king, headman and all ran 
away. They said they had buried a tiger there, and 
if anybody went to that spot it would bring sick- 
ness on the people. So they made a law that who- 
ever went there should pay a great fine. 

"One of the headmen brought me a present of a 
chicken yesterday, and old King Mango, who lives 
two or three miles up the coast, came tosee me to-day 
where we are building. He brought me a present 
of a chicken and a large bunch of plantains. I 
seated his majesty on a block and gave him my 
umbrella to keep the sun off. When I got leisure 
I came with him to the house where I live (one- 
quarter of a mile away), and made him a present of 
a fine butcher-knife, with which he was greatly de- 
lighted. I hope to win the hearts of the people by 
kindness, and then I shall have the better oppor- 
tunity for doing them good. 

" January 26. — This morning the rain hin- 
dered us, but we got something done notwithstand- 
ing. All the posts are in the ground, and we have 
commenced putting on the sills. This is wearing 
work, as it is difficult to hew and make them fit 
properly. I came to dinner perfectly exhausted, 



GEORGE PAULL. 249 

but after a hearty meal and a short rest I felt as 
fresh as ever. One of the headmen brought me a 
present of a chicken and a bunch of plantains. I 
suppose he was tempted by my present to the king 
yesterday. I gave him a hat. Getting presents 
of chickens and plantains is very expensive, as I 
have to give a dash of double their worth in return. 
I have the men now cutting a path direct from 
where we are working to the town. I suppose the 
people w T ill be glad of that. They never go to the 
trouble of cutting a path if they can avoid it. 
They prefer to go half a mile round. 

" January 27. — This morning another headman 
brought me a present, a basket of corn and a leg 
of venison. The venison was something of a 
rarity, though the bush abounds with a beautiful 
little deer which the people sometimes shoot. A 
pair of pheasants flew up before me to-day, but I 
scarcely got to see them enough to say what they 
were like. I saw yesterday a most beautiful 
bird, black, with red bill and a white ring round 
its neck. It had five or six long tail-feathers, 
perhaps six inches long. Its body was no larger 
than a snow-bird. 

" The work at the mission-house is progressing. 
The three heavy sills running the whole length of 



250 GEORGE PAULL, 

the house are hewn and nailed on. Much of the 
fitting of timbers and hewing I am obliged to do 
myself; and in the evenings I feel almost exhausted. 
The men keep in good spirits, and upon the whole 
are the best Africans to work that I have ever seen. 
Old King Mango and some of the headmen came to 
see me this evening to put their marks to the deed 
and get their pay for the ground. I promised to be 
ready for them to-morrow. 

"The morning and evening prayers are well 
attended. This evening over thirty were present. 
I try to teach them and explain the Scriptures as I 
go along. 

" A man came to me to-day to see if I could doc- 
tor his wife's arm. By some means the shaft of an 
arrow had been driven through it. I told him to 
bring her and I would try and do something to 
help it. 

" January 28. — To-day came another present 
from a headman, of a bunch of plantains and a 
chicken. In the afternoon also another headman 
brought me a part of a large fish. I set the work- 
men free about the middle of the afternoon, as 
they had been working hard and faithfully all the 
w^eek ; and as I myself was tired, and had beside 
appointed this afternoon to meet the headmen to 



GEORGE PAULL. 251 

pay them for the land, and write them a 'big 
book' (a kind of deed), a copy of which I keep for 
myself also. I had written, on the day we went 
around the land, a small article, just to seal the 
bargain. I paid the six headmen and the king 
four pieces of cloth, two shirts, six knives and a 
few other things, all of which in America would 
cost about ten dollars. These they divided among 
themselves. I made as presents also (tokens of 
friendship) six large butcher knives to the head- 
men, and to the king I gave a red shirt. As we 
went around the path again we came across the 
bones of a great elephant which had been killed a 
long time ago. 

" January 29. — This has been a delightful Sab- 
bath. In the morning I preached to a congrega- 
tion of considerably over a hundred people crowded 
into the house and about the door. Preached on 
the Lord's Prayer. Two of the traders were over 
from the other side of the river, the only English 
traders there, and about twenty people beside. 
They were most attentive, and I cannot but hope 
that God will bless his truth plainly spoken. The 
traders stayed with me for dinner. In the afternoon 
we had a prayer meeting, and at night preaching 
again to a good and attentive audience. Our 



252 GEORGE PAULL. 

singing has been delightful. One of the Scripture 
readers with his wife from Hanje was here, and one 
also from Aje. Ngombalonda, one of the mission 
boys, is my clerk. He knows many tunes and 
sings very well. My own singing powers are de- 
veloping somewhat. 

" January 30. — To-day I have been sick and 
scarcely able to attend to building. The hot sun 
this morning I think brought it on. A leopard 
came into town last night and killed a goat. The 
people are a good deal afraid of the leopards. 

"February 1. — Yesterday I was sick with a slight 
attack of fever, but heavy doses of quinine have 
made me feel quite well to-day. The work of 
building goes on prosperously. Last night was a 
sleepless night on account of the fever, which was 
just leaving me. Ume says, ( Ah, Mr. Paul], the 
people of America make us very sorry, they catch 
our grandfather and carry him away, they carry 
away our people' (alluding to the slave traders). 

"Februarys. — This is my twenty-ninth birthday 
(I am twenty-eight years old), and I have spent it 
as much as possible in quietness and alone, telling 
the men to get along as best they could without 
me. It was almost impossible to have ten minutes 
of quiet in town, so I went out into the bush. The 



GEORGE PAULL. 253 

natives gathered about me to-night in the bright 
moonlight, while I told them some things about 
the sun, moon and stars. They asked why they 
could see no stars when the moon was round. 
They thought it was because all the stars then 
gathered themselves together to the moon to increase 
its brightness. 

"February 5. — The Mange came this morning 
with the mail. She had been delayed by a tornado. 
The people did not create an excitement as they 
would have done on another day. It rained this 
morning, and I expected scarcely any out to 
church, but God sent me one hundred and ten. 
I think I never preached so stumblingly since 
I came to Africa. But God can bless the poorest 
effort. 

"The Christians tell me to-night that two of 
the natives have been asking them how to pray 
with all their hearts. They say their hearts never 
troubled them as they do now. May God now 
commence the work among us ! 

"Sabbath, February 12. — This has been a 
good day. The attendance at church was one 
hundred and twenty — many more than I hoped 
for, as it rained in the morning. Preached on 
Isaiah, fifty-fifth chapter. In the afternoon meet- 



254 GEORGE PAULL. 

ing for prayer, and at night, there was an attend- 
ance of from thirty to fifty, and most solemn at- 
tention as I preached on the personal responsi- 
bility of those who hear the word of God. 

"February 18. — This evening Isanga came — one 
of the men whose ' heart has been troubling him/ 
He says, 'I heard from Mbata about heaven and 
hell and sin and death, but I did not understand 
about Christ. When you came and told us about 
Christ suffering and dying to save us sinners, and 
about his being the Son of God and coming to die 
in our places, I asked my heart if it was its sin 
that made Christ die, and ever since my heart 
troubled me.' Mbala came in and I spoke with 
him ; he says that he believes the truths that he 
hears, but they do not trouble him. However, he 
seems to be trying to pray. Upingalo says he 
heard him praying the other night at midnight. 
He says the young men are also beginning to 
pray. Tom prays at midnight, and prays a good 
deal. O Spirit, breathe on the bones in this 
valley ! Jesus seems to help one wonderfully 
when he walks in the path of duty. I have 
never in my life seemed to be enabled to make 
the way of salvation so plain as since I came 
among the people of Africa. Every day almost 



GEORGE PATJLL. 255 

my heart is whispering, i Hasten, hasten, hasten ; 
do not lose a day ! You know that life in Africa 
is short, and there is much to be done. Do not 
let your time be taken up with any trifles, but 
hasten on the main work — preach the gospel/ 

"February 19. — This seemed a barren day to 
my soul. No desires after God, heart hard and 
immovable, with no strength to do anything good, 
but always failing in my good resolves to do for 
God. So I felt until dark, when God was pleased 
to visit me and soften my feelings, and although I 
felt so worthless, as having done not a thing that 
could stand before God in all my life, yet I thought 
in the last day it might appear that he had used 
my efforts some little for his glory — that possibly 
he might have enabled me to be of a little comfort 
to some of his people. But I felt so weary of sin 
and temptation and failure to glorify God as I 
ought that I earnestly prayed to Jesus, if it be his 
will, to take me to himself out of the world. I 
thought of myself as having sinned against God 
from my birth, and yet God pitied me and bore 
with me and would not cut me off, but sent his 
Son to die for me. When I thought of the won- 
derful forbearance of God my heart was melted to 
tears, 



258 GEORGE PAULL. 

"To-night I preached on 'God so loved the 
world/ etc. Preached with some degree of feel- 
ing and warmth, and the people were most atten- 
tive. After service I asked those who wished to 
talk about Christ to stay, or those who wished to 
inquire how they might be saved. Some twenty 
remained. I asked if they all remained to talk 
about Christ, and they said that they did. Six 
of them said their hearts had been troubling them 
on account of their sins. One man said he would 
not speak about himself now, but he would pray 
on and pray on and pray on until Christ changed 
his heart, and then he would come and tell me of 
it. Several women remained who seemed seriously 
disposed ; one expressed a desire to be a Christian. 
Preached this morning on the fifty-first Psalm — 
about seventy-five people present. Talked in 
the afternoon prayer-meeting about heaven and 
its desirableness. 

"Monday, February 20. — Oh, I am struck 
dumb with strange feelings ! I believe God is 
working by his Spirit among this people. To- 
night after prayers, at which there was a large 
attendance, the houseful seemed to stand still and 
sit down again as though not ready to leave. I, 
however, came on into my own little home, and 



GEORGE PAULL. 257 

three or four of those who expressed concern last 
night followed me and sat down, seeming desirous 
to speak, so I spoke with them and found them ap- 
parently much concerned. Others came in to the 
number of nine — every one declaring himself to 
be concerned and troubled on account of his sins — 
Ebuma, Miodi, Madoha, Beduka, Ikuba, Ijabi, 
Upinda, Jumna, Ngambalonda. I spent, perhaps, 
an hour and a half talking with each one and try- 
ing to show them the way to Christ. O God, my 
heart is full ! I would hide myself away in the 
dust ! Do thou work for thyself among this peo- 
ple! Some of them say that their trouble arises 
from a feeling that they have a sinful heart. 
Ebuma says he has always wondered where he 
was to go to when he died, and now he hears of 
heaven and hell and is troubled, and wishes to find 
the way to heaven. 

" Tuesday, 21st. — O Lord my God, I do not 
know what to say. I ought to hide my face in the 
dust, and I feel like hiding away from thy presence, 
lest by some word or act or neglect of duty I 
should grieve thy spirit, if indeed thou hast com- 
menced to work among this people. But, O Lord, 
if it is thy work, thou hast commenced it and thou 
wilt not suffer my follies to stop it. Thou wilt 

17 



258 



GEORGE PAULL. 



not suffer anything to stop it, but wilt carry it on 
to thy name's everlasting glory. Glory, glory be 
unto thee, O God ! Thou livest and reignest in 
mercy and kindness ; this is my hope. 

" This evening there was a much larger attend- 
ance than usual on prayers, and the people were 
solemnly attentive. They had no disposition to 
rise and go away after it was over. I spoke to 
them of their danger and lost condition, and tried 
to show them that Christ was their only helper, 
and urged them to seek him. Five followed me 
into my room to inquire the way to Christ — Betluka 
and his wife, Bela (1) and Bela (2) and Tom. 
They seem to be really concerned for their souls' 
salvation. Some of them have a most clear view 
of their lost and helpless and sinful condition. I 
am astonished at their Scriptural knowledge of 
their state. O God, revive thy work ! Saviour, 
pour down thy spirit as showers upon the mown 
grass ! 

" February 22. — To-night was our prayer-meet- 
ing. The attendance was as large as it usually is 
on Sabbath evenings at church. I spoke on Acts, 
chapter second, 'Out-pouring of the spirit, and call 
to repentance/ Some remained to make inquiries 
how thev micrht be saved. The words of Isanga 



GEORGE PAULL. 259 

and Ebuma were especially interesting and encour- 
aging. 

"February 23. — Oh God, I am filled with won- 
der at thy ways of dealing ! Who by searching 
can find out God ? Art thou in very deed visiting 
this people with the reviving influence of thy 
spirit ? A full house at prayers, to which I spoke 
at considerable length on the ' Barren fig-tree and 
the strait gate/ Surely I never saw more fixed 
and solemn attention, but no display of feeling. I 
was enabled to speak very solemnly and pointedly. 
I invited those who wished to ask any questions or 
to talk about Christ to come into my room. Five 
followed me. Two of them, Bomani and Besaka, 
had never spoken with me before, the other three 
had. All the young men in town seem to be pray- 
ing. They are heard at midnight lifting up their 
voices to God in prayer. Almost every one who 
has come to me has made this remark : { We heard 
from the Scripture reader before about God and 
heaven and hell, and our hearts did not trouble us, 
but since you told us about Christ we feel trouble 
in our hearts/ One noble young fellow, whom I 
have noticed apparently much interested, came last 
night and said with much earnestness, 'Tell me 
how to pray/ To-night he came again with every 



260 GEORGE PAULL. 

indication of deepest earnestness and said, 1 1 come 
to ask you how to love Christ. My heart keeps 
saying, Love Christ ! love Christ ! Tell me how to 
love him/ The deep sincerity of this young man 
is most interesting. 'I came to tell you before 
that my heart was in trouble, but now it troubles 
me more and more. It did not trouble me until I 
heard the things you told us about Christ/ One 
young man came who has been much concerned for 
two or three weeks and was one of the first two. 
There are some things that seem hopeful in his 
case; perhaps he has been led to believe. The 
most surprising thing about these young men 
is their Scriptural knowledge, although until 
November last they had never heard the gospel, 
with the exception of a few who had heard some- 
thing of it from a Scripture reader at Meduma. 
God's spirit, I am convinced, must himself have 
taught them the things they know. 

"Sabbath, February 26. — To-day I have tried 
to preach the gospel to perishing sinners. There 
was in the morning a congregation of more than a 
hundred. I preached on ( The Son of man is come 
to seek and to save/ etc. Many listened with 
fixed and earnest attention. In the afternoon 
prayer-meeting I spoke on i The kindness and love 






GEORGE PAULL. 261 

of Christ/ as shown in healing those who came to 
him. There was much earnest attention by all, 
and some apparent tenderness. Oh that the word 
of Christ might enter into their hearts, and that 
the power of the Holy Ghost might change them ! 
At night I spoke on the fifteenth chapter of Luke, 
explaining it. Afterwards I asked those who had 
talked with me to remain. They were not all 
present; eight, however, remained. God has evi- 
dently been at work in their hearts. One (Tom) 
I almost hope is a Christian. He says, 'My heart 
does not feel as it did. It was all dark before, but 
now it is different. To-day, when you preached 
about Christ coming to save the lost, it made me 
cry. I thought, I am a lost sinner, and Christ has 
come to save me.' Bela seems much concerned. 
I never have seen deeper and more earnest and 
anxious attention than I have seen on the faces of 
many to-day. As I walked out after this morning's 
service to find a place of quiet and retirement, I 
met one native Christian and a native who had 
been out to the bush to pray. The native was 
much concerned and had asked to be taught. He 
was one who had been to hear me once or twice 
before. I sat down on the grass and tried to show 
him the way to Christ. 



262 GEORGE PAULL. 

" I visited Mango's town a day or two ago and 
spoke to them about Christ. The king was just 
about buying another wife; his wives were all dead 
but one. I told him one was enough, and tried to 
persuade him to turn from heathenism unto God. 
He said he believed he would not get another wife 
now. Perhaps he would buy a slave-woman. 

"February 27. — This has been a day of joy and 
grief— joy because God's work is prospering, but 
I was made to grieve because I find that the devil 
was hard at work, too. I paid a visit to M'Lach- 
lan (trader), on the other side. He spoke of put- 
ting a factory right among my people — a rum-shop 
to ruin the mission work. I plead for God and his 
cause with all the strength I could. May God 
break the teeth of his enemies ! At night also in 
the town there was a drunken frolic while we were 
at meeting, and one of the men who had been most 
concerned about his soul was in it. Rum was 
bought from the traders. So the devil works. At 
night, however, we had a good meeting, and for this 
in my heart I can thank God. Thirteen or four- 
teen stayed in after the meeting was over to ask 
and learn the way to Christ. Some of them I had 
talked with before. Five women stayed this time. 
Some of them seemed to be a good deal concerned. 



GEORGE PAULL. 263 

Oh, I trust God will yet convert multitudes of 
these people to himself, 

"March 2. — The interest of those who have 
been inquiring the way to God seems unabated. 
About fifteen stayed in to-night to inquire and hear 
about God, I appointed Saturday afternoon for 
them all to come. The people of Hanje and Aje 
are coming out encouragingly to church. My 
house is wellnigh finished with the exception of 
the floors. 

"Saturday, March 4, — This afternoon I had ap- 
pointed to meet the inquirers. There were four- 
teen or fifteen present beside the Christians. I 
talked to them long and tried to explain the way 
to Christ. I talked to a full house to-night on 
' Behold the Lamb of God.' I feel quite w T eary 
to-night, and am glad of it, from trying to serve 
Christ. I have walked about six miles and dis- 
coursed four times to-day. 

"Sabbath, March 5. — This morning I preached 
to about one hundred people on 6 Jesus stood and 
cried/ etc. I had much freedom in thought and 
word and illustration. In the afternoon prayer- 
meeting I spoke a little on 'Christ a propitiation 
for our sins,' To-night I discoursed on the terrible 
catalogue of heathen sins in the first chapter of 



264 GEORGE PATJLL. 

Romans. The people said, ' This is all true ; we 
commit them all/ I talked with Isanga, Ebuma, 
Ihuba, Bela, Beduka and Bomani. These all, 
except Beduka, had some most encouraging things 
about them. If in another land and among a more 
enlightened people, their answers would make me 
think them Christians. I cannot tell ; God know- 
eth. Tom also some days since gave some encour- 
aging evidence of a change of heart. 

"Monday, March 6. — This day I am run down 
with the work of yesterday and Saturday, and felt 
unable to do anything. But about noon the natives 
brought me word that Williams, a trader on the 
other side of the river, had died. I took boat and 
boatmen and went over. I found Captain Finley 
there, of the Gordon's schooner. Mr. Williams had 
died on board the schooner, and Captain Fin- 
ley had already buried him. The natives had dug 
the grave with their hands, and a picket fence was 
put around it. He died without a thought of 
death, and I suppose had not a hope to light the 
grave. I tried to urge the captain to be ready 
also when he should be called to go, but his hard- 
ened heart turned off the subject like steel. It 
must be hard to die alone on the coast of Africa, 
unless the hope of better things beyond cheer the 



GEORGE PAULL. 265 

darkness, and then nothing might be considered 
easier. I am feverish to-night and a good deal 
unwell." 

From Benita, Mr. Paull wrote, March 12, 1865, 
to his missionary friends Mr. and Mrs. De Heer : 
"Please accept many thanks for both your kind 
letters. I now look for my Corisco mail almost as 
anxiously as for my American mails, particularly 
since the American one for the two last times has 
been playing me false. It seems a long time since 
I saw you, but I trust it will not be many weeks 
till I will be among you for a little while. Chris- 
tian fellowship is hard to give up. The commu- 
nion of saints may well be precious to us now, for 
it is one of the things that will last for ever. 
There will be so many things, however, to add 
to its sweetness in heaven that we shall scarcely 
be able to recognize it as the communion of saints 
which we enjoyed on earth. This is good, but 
that will be infinitely better. It is well that we 
are not able here to realize all its excellence and 
preciousness, else earth would seem to us like a 
dreary journey through a wintry night, and we 
should mourn like doves until the time would 
come when we might fly away and join the dear 
company. I thank you heartily for the prayers 



266 GEORGE PAULL. 

that I know you send up on my behalf. The 
prayers of friends seem to me to have done more 
for me than any thing * else in this world. The 
prayers, too, that have gone up for God's blessing 
on this station have, I trust, been answered at least 
in some measure. There have been several asking 
how they may find Christ, and some of them, I 
trust, have learned the way to him. I wrote you 
by the last mail of two who were asking the way 
to God. On the Sabbath evening after the mail 
went to Corisco several others began to inquire, and 
since that others, until some fifteen or eighteen have 
been to speak with me about i the trouble in their 
hearts/ I have talked much with them and la- 
bored much to make the way to Jesus plain. 
Some of them, I trust, have found it, and are 
resting in him. How the sweet story of Jesus 
dying for our sins melts the heart ! Most of these 
young men say, ( It did not trouble our hearts to 
know about God and heaven and hell, but when 
you told us about Jesus coming down and dying 
for our sins, then our hearts troubled us/ I rejoice 
greatly that God is doing something for his own 
glory, and I long and pray that he will yet work 
mightily all along this coast. I think in my heart 
I would desire to glorify him, but surely I have 



GEORGE PAULL. 267 

never in my life felt myself to be such a worthless, 
miserable atom in creation as within the last three 
or four weeks. But my joy is that God does not 
need the help of any man ; he will work himself, 
after all, and leave us to look on. 

" I have had quite an attack of fever in the last 
week, though I am entirely over it now. I sup- 
pose I did not follow my dear sister's advice, or I 
would not perhaps have had it. A week ago on 
Saturday I w r alked up the river, preaching in the 
towns, and then preaching twice on Sabbath, which 
proved to be a little more than I ought to have 
done. I hope wisdom will come by experience. I 
am sure I want to live if I can do anything for 
Africa. A young trader died last week. He has 
gone to his account. He died without a thought 
of death. I fear he had a dreary entrance into 
eternity. 

" I hope it will not be long until we may speak 
face to face. With much love to both, affection- 
ately, your brother, 

"Geo. Paull." 

In a letter to his brother James, dated " Benita 
River Station, March 11, 1865/' after expressing 
his affliction in the loss of the American mail which 
went down to the bottom of the sea in the steamer, 



268 GEORGE PAULL. 

which sunk shortly after leaving Liverpool for 
Africa, Mr. Paull writes : " I am greatly rejoiced 
that God has sent me to labor among the mainland 
tribes. If there are any privations connected with 
it, I take it as high honor that he puts me to bear 
them. If there be any good done, from my heart 
I think I can say that I desire the glory to be his, 
and I have high hopes that he will yet accomplish 
much for his own glory here. Since I last wrote 
home God has done many things to gladden my 
heart. On Sabbath evening three weeks ago, after 
feelings of great depression, and a deep sense of 
utter helplessness and worthlessness in the world, I 
preached on John iii. 16, 17: i For God so loved 
the world/ etc. And God was pleased, I trust, to 
bless it to the good of some of these poor heathen. 
Some had seemed thoughtful before, and many were 
so earnestly attentive to the truth that I thought 
it good to ask that all might remain after the bene- 
diction who were anxious to know more of Christ and 
of the way to him. Quite a number remained, 
five or six of whom complained of their hearts 
troubling them on account of sin. Since that fif- 
teen or eighteen have come to my little native hut 
to speak with me about their souls. Some of them 
are really and deeply concerned, and some of them 



GEORGE PAULL. 269 

I think have found Christ, and are believing in him. 
One young man who had been a great sinner before, 
now says that he hates his old life, and does not wish 
to live it again. He says : i My heart not feel now 
like it did ; when you preach to-day about Christ 
coming to save the lost, I feel I be lost sinner, and 
Christ he save me, and it make me weep/ With 
but few exceptions they never heard the gospel 
until last November, when I made a trip here, and 
left Mbata as a Scripture reader. Since I have 
been here I have tried morning and evening to in- 
struct them as to the evil of their hearts and their 
utterly lost and helpless condition, but especially 
pointing them to Christ, and trying to open up to 
them his fullness and freeness and willingness to 
save. I have long felt that Christ is everything to 
sinners, and preaching anything else is of no use. 
And it is wonderful how the simple love of Christ 
is able to melt even the heathen heart. Almost 
every one that came to me said, ' We heard of God 
and heaven and hell from the Scripture reader, but 
it did not trouble us; but when you told us about 
Christ coming into the world and dying for our 
sins, then our hearts trouble us much/ If only one 
soul be saved from heathenish darkness and eternal 
death, and be made an heir of glory by words 



270 GEORGE PAULL. 

that God shall enable me to speak, then I shall 
have reason to bless him for ever that he has sent 
me to Africa. 

" I sat to-night musing about home, and think- 
ing how delightful it would be to spend an evening 
with you all, and especially a Sabbath evening, as 
you are gathered around the fire. My life is now 
altogether without those comforts of home and 
friends, and I scarcely ever see the face of a white 
man, except it be an occasional trader, since I came 
here. But I am far happier here, feeling that I am 
doing something for God, than I have ever been at 
home, where I have often felt that my days were 
idly, almost sinfully, floating away. It is not ease 
or comfort that can make us happy : it is only the 
feeling that we are redeeming the time for God 
that can give us peace. I do not know whether 
my life in Africa will be long or short, nor does 
that give me any trouble, so I be sure that my 
heart is wholly fixed on Christ. This is all that 
need give me any concern. But whatever the 
length of my life may be, I trust God will en- 
able me to give it all for Africa. Every earthly 
thing is very small when eternity opens up before 
us, and we are wrong if we do not always keep 
eternity in the foreground. If it make us solemn, 



GEORGE PAULL. 271 

all the better ; we have no right to be anything else 
but solemn ; for surely it is a solemn thing to live 
and still more so to die ; so that living or dying, 
we ought to be solemn. Our hearts are apt to plead 
for a little mirth and levity, and they say these 
things will not harm us ; but they only tell us lies ; 
they would ruin us if they could ; the Scriptures call 
them i deceitful above all things, and desperately 
wicked/ I am sure we have no enemy so bad or so 
dangerous as our own hearts. 

" I have not yet got into my new house, but hope 
to do so shortly. There is a delightful breeze 
always fanning the rooms and a fine view over 
the sea, that strangely contrasts with my present 
abode, which is hemmed in with plantain trees all 
around the town, so that the little houses can 
scarcely be seen, and the house has no windows to 
admit the breeze. I suppose I would be able to 
get some monkey meat if I wished it. One of the 
men shot one the other day, but I did not get to see 
it till he had burned all the hair off it except the 
tail. This is the way they cook them, with the 
skin on. It was a little red one — red as a fox. 
There are great numbers of them in the bush. The 
same man also speared a shark in the mouth of 
the river, and another shot a deer on the beach 



272 GEORGE PAULL. 

near town. There is abundance of game, but the 
guns they have are so worthless they rarely kill 
anything. 

"The last mail brought me a paper from Mr. 
Thompson, of Glasgow, which says there are many 
rumors and a good prospect of peace in America. 
I sincerely hope it may be so, and that this sorrow- 
ful war will soon be ended and the country again 
united." 

To his mother: 

" Corisco, April 10, 1865. 

" Your letters and one from James reached me 
yesterday. These brought me the only tidings 
from home that I have had for three months. The 
letters which you wrote me in November and 
December, I suppose, are in the bottom of the 
English Channel, a loss which I deplore more than 
you can tell. I see by one of my last letters that 
Cousin Thomas Foster has gone to rest. I hope he 
has gone to the land from which, if we once enter, 
we go no more out. Uncle and Aunt B. have had 
heavy shadows drifting over them these late years. 
I trust when the sun shines again its beams will 
be the purer and brighter for the cloudy days. 
You see from the date of my letter that I am now 
at Corisco, though I expect to go back to my Benita 



GEORGE PAULL. 273 

home in a day or two. I came down to attend 
communion, the mission-meeting and meeting of 
Presbytery. My stay here has been very pleasant 
and refreshing after ten weeks 5 absence from white 
faces, and Corisco too seems like a home, though 
my own station among the Kombes has a hold on 
my heart which makes the thought of going back 
to it very pleasant. The interest among the people 
there in reference to the things that make for their 
peace, causes me to wish to be among them again, 
with the hope that the divine spark will be re- 
kindled and many more inquire the way to Zion. 
I wish and pray that, with a heart undivided by 
any earthly thing, I may be enabled to labor in 
my wide field for the glory of our King and the 
salvation of the people. 

"I had a letter from my Scotch friend, Mr. 
George Thompson, saying that he had sent a box 
of canned meats for me and Mrs. Nassau by the 
ship St. George. He had seen Mrs. Nassau on 
her way home through Scotland. The meats have 
arrived. I am glad the box from Afrie^ reached 
home and gave you some pleasure. I hope some 
day to send you a larger one. I had hoped this 
mail would bring us tidings of an honorable peace, 
but the day still seems distant. 

18 



274 GEORGE PAULL. 

"I do not know any thought more comforting 
and pleasant than that of dwelling for ever in the 
ages to come with the meek and quiet in spirit — a 
harmonious and happy family, undisturbed by 
passion, and filled and permeated with eternal and 
unchanging love. Those who have most of love in 
them upon earth are nearest to heaven, and love 
grows in us just in proportion as selfishness and 
worldliness dies. 

" My health in my new home has been wonder- 
fully good except one or two little touches of fever 
which are common to all, and which come and go 
in a day or two ; but I came down looking much 
better, the missionaries tell me, than when I went 
away. I hope I shall be spared in Africa many 
years yet to come. 

"April 13. — Started for Benita again this morn- 
ing with two boats loaded with furniture, goods 
and provisions. The moon came up like a ball of 
fire, at 7 o'clock, and we sailed along in the beauti- 
ful moonlight, reaching Benita about 12 o'clock at 
night. Many of the people came with their hearty 
welcome and helped us unload the boat. I slept 
in my new house for the first time, on a mattress 
thrown on the floor. 

"April 14. — Breakfasted on some provisions 



GEORGE PAULL. 275 

Mrs. Mackey sent along, my table a chest and the 
floor my chair. Very busy putting down matting, 
setting up bedsteads, wardrobe and book-case and 
unpacking stores. The people in the house all day 
in crowds, some helping, others looking on, all 
seeming glad. 

"Sabbath, April 15. — This has been a good and 
glad day. Discoursed three times in my new 
house to good, serious and attentive audiences — 
morning on ' Blind Bartimeus/ afternoon, 'Ye 
will not come unto me/ evening i What think ye 
of Christ?* — chiefly endeavoring to hold up 
Christ in his mediatorial work, urging all to accept 
of him. I seem to feel that God's spirit is present 
with us yet, as I trust he was before I went away. 

"April 20. — Kema ; s daughter seems to have be- 
come really serious. I see her always present at 
prayers morning and night, whether it rains or not 
— often the only woman present. It is a strange 
feature here that the women are the very last to 
become interested in spiritual things." 

We now come to Mr. PaulFs last letter, which 
was finished by Mr. Mackey, at his request. It 
was addressed from Benita River Station, April 17, 
1865, to his brother James : 

" My indebtedness is to you this time, I feel 



276 GEORGE PATJLL. 

very grateful to you and mother and Lizzie for 
having kept me so well informed of the progress 
of things at home. The wide gap that the loss of 
two months' mails made was no fault of yours, but 
one of those providences which come divinely 
ordered, doing their work and leaving us to wonder 
why they came. I wrote to mother and Lizzie 
while I was at Corisco. I am so far from the 
' central point' it is necessary to take every oppor- 
tunity lest I get to send no letter at all ; so my 
dates will be very irregular, though I hope to get 
a letter to you by every mail. I write this now, as 
I shall be obliged to go to Corisco again in about 
two weeks, and I wish to leave it there for the 
mail. I would not go if I did not feel that it was 
important to be there on the arrival of Mr. Clark 
and the departure of Mr. Mackey, so that we may 
consult all together about the interests and pros- 
pects of our work. A sea voyage of over one 
hundred miles (there and back) in an open boat, 
and almost constant sun or rain, is not a very delight- 
ful undertaking. The chief part of my work, how- 
ever, will require boating up and down the coast, 
but the journeys will neither be so hard nor so long 
as that to Corisco. 

"We had a meeting of Presbytery while I was 



GEORGE PAULL. 277 

at Corisco, and divided the church, making ar- 
rangements to organize the second one here ; so 
my charge will now lie north of Cape St. John — 
a point about halfway between this and Corisco — 
and extends as far north above this as I am able to 
go. I hope we shall soon have a station here and 
there like a line of beacon-lights, all along the coast, 
pouring out their bright light for the safety and sal- 
vation of Africa's bewildered ones. Within two or 
three months the church will be organized here, 
and one of the missionaries will be up to help me 
at the organization. My visit to Corisco was a 
pleasant one ; it was good to be among the mission- 
aries after a tolerably long absence, and they greeted 
me with warm welcomes. 

" April 18. — I laid my matting on the study to- 
day, put up the book-case, wardrobe and bedstead, 
so that the room begins to look somewhat comfort- 
able, at least much better than my quondam home 
in the native hut. And as I hope to make some 
more additions of furniture after a while, I need 
not envy any one his comforts. 

" I left Ngambalonda at Corisco, but have an- 
other boy (Ijubi) who lives with me and sleeps in 
the next room. He is one of those who were in- 
quiring before I went to Corisco ; and I hope he is 



278 GEORGE PAULL. 

a Christian. Every night I hear him offering low 
but private prayers to God in his native tongue — 
and it is by no means a small comfort and delight 
here to hear a heathen boy begin to pray. There 
is the same good attendance and attention that 
there was before I went away. Those who were 
interested come regularly and faithfully to morning 
and evening prayers, and to every meeting for 
prayer, although some of them have more than a 
quarter of a mile to walk, sometimes in pitchy dark- 
ness, and almost trembling for fear of the leopards. 
I hope in the last day it will be found that they 
have washed their robes and made them white in 
the blood of the Lamb. Every one who is received 
into the church here must be received with fear 
and trembling, for if they stand and keep from 
open sin, it can only be because they are upheld by 
the most amazing grace of God. There are a thou- 
sand earthly helps to bolster a Christian up in a 
civilized land; but here there is scarcely a single 
prop. A healthy moral sentiment in the com- 
munity is one of the greatest helps to Christians 
at home, but here there is no moral sentiment at 
all. The reins are all thrown loose, and they may 
and do commit the vilest sins as freely as they like. 
Imagine what a people must be without govern- 



GEORGE PAULL. 279 

merit, without laws, without religion, without 
morals ! 

"April 20.— To-night the rain patters down 
heavily on the roof, and the sound is not unpleas- 
ant, but has rather a soothing effect when one is 
under good shelter. But the thunder bursts loudly 
overhead, and the red lightning darts in at every 
crack, A bamboo house is by no means a tight 
structure, for it is easy to read by the light which 
pours in through the cracks, when the doors and 
window-shutters are all closed. But this does not 
hinder it from being a comfortable place to live in, 
for the air also finds entrance at the openings ; and 
it would be difficult to get along without plenty of 
fresh air. 

" I went out in the bush to-day to see if I could 
find some fresh meat. In the bush, only a little 
distance away, we found deer tracks almost as 
plenty as rabbit tracks around a thicket at home, 
and the fresh tracks of what is said to be a wild 
cow, as though she had just leaped by; and it 
seemed to be a perfect play-ground for elephants, 
for the traces of them were all around, where they 
had rubbed on the trees and put their huge feet in 
the mud. We came across about a dozen monkeys 
in the top of a tree cracking nuts. I would have 



280 GEORGE PAULL. 

been willing to forego my prejudices and eat a piece 
of one of them, as the natives and white men on 
the coast eat them, and esteem them excellent food. 
But if I ever knew anything about hunting I have 
forgotten it now ; for they all slipped away through 
the tops of the trees, and we came home without 
anything. I had Upingalo with me, and another 
native. The monkeys go in great droves usually, 
leaping along from tree- top to tree-top like squirrels, 
and they may be seen almost any morning or 
evening by a short walk." 

Here Mr. PaulPs pen ceases its work. The Rev. 
Mr. Mackey continues : 

"This letter w T as written so far before your 
brother's last illness. When on his death-bed 
at my house he requested me to take it from his 
portfolio, finish and forward it to you, in case he 
should be called away. 

" Your brother George has run his earthly race, 
he has finished his course, and he has gone to re- 
ceive his crown. He died on Sabbath morning, 
May 14, a little before 11 o'clock, while the congre- 
gation was worshiping in the church close by. 

"Your brother was a most faithful and devoted 
laborer in the cause of Christ. The members of 



GEORGE PAULL. 281 

our mission esteemed him most highly as a Chris- 
tian brother and fellow - laborer. The people 
around his station on the mainland loved him 
and received his teachings with gladness. I feel 
that I have lost a personal friend. My dear wife 
mourns his loss as that of a brother. We do not 
repine or rebel against the will of God. He who 
does all things well has afflicted us and you, but it 
is done in love. Yours sincerely, 

"James L. Mackey." 

An extract from a letter written a short time be- 
fore his death so well expresses his views and feel- 
ings in entering upon the new station at Benita, that 
we give it here, though not in its chronological order : 

" To go and live among the mainland tribes and 
declare unto them the gospel — is not this high 
honor ? For some time I have had charge of the 
out-stations extending along the coast for about 
fifty miles, and I have visited them by boat, but 
now I go to live among them and give my time 
wholly to the work. If ever I wished to live it is 
now, when my heart has hope that I may yet do 
something for God and something for Africa. A 
peculiar confidence has gradually been growing 
stronger within me that God will yet give me 



282 GEORGE PAULL. 

grace to do something that shall be for his glory. 
Thus God is gradually opening for me the way I 
have so much desired to go, and I count it good- 
ness and mercy in him. For years I have besought 
the Lord for just the thing he seems to be giving 
me now, and he has led me to it along a path in 
many respects different from my expectations. His 
faithfulness hitherto has made me strong in the 
confidence that by his grace he will keep me from 
falling unto the end. My darkness and my temp- 
tations which pressed so sorely on me for many 
months have passed away, and I cannot doubt that 
they have left me stronger in the Lord, and have 
introduced me more fully into the precious and 
abiding love of Christ. If I be not deceived, 
there is growing within me a firmer resolve to 
glorify God and to be unreservedly given to him. 
His character has been growing daily more beauti- 
ful to me, and thoughts of his infinite excellence 
fill my heart at times fuller than it can hold. Do 
not fear, my friends, that any prospect of earthly 
happiness will turn me away from the work to 
which God has called me. God is too merciful to 
suffer that. I count it better a thousand times to 
die than to desert my i post/ " 

This noble faith in God and devotion to the 



GEORGE PAULL. 283 

great work of preaching the gospel to the sable 
tribes of Africa affords a sublime illustration of 
the power of divine grace in conquering all natural 
attachment to the world and bringing all the 
powers of the soul into the obedience of Christ. 

Dr. Nassau, after giving a full account of Mr. 
Paull's illness from his return from Benita to 
Corisco to the day before his death, writes : 
"On Saturday, 13th, Mr. Mackey asked him 
whether in the face of an early death he had 
any regrets for having come to Africa. He decid- 
edly and warmly said, 'No, no, no;' and added 
that his only sorrow was for the grief that his 
relatives and friends would feel. Late in the 
afternoon, as Mr. De Heer was going back to 
his station, Mr. Paull rose up suddenly in his 
bed and said, 'Oh, brother de Heer, I am so 
nervous.' Mr. De Heer reminded him that there 
was rest for the weary. ( Oh yes ; if I could only 
fully realize that!' How sweet in weakness to de- 
rive strength from Christ and rest leaning on the 
arm of our Beloved. ' Yes, I long for that rest/ 
As they pressed hands for the last time, Mr. De 
Heer said, ' If no more on earth, brother, we trust 
we shall meet in that better world.' i Pray much 
for me, and ask all to pray for me,' was the reply." 



284 GEORGE PAULL. 

Dr. Nassau continues : " In the twilight of the 
evening (I fanning him) he said, * Repeat that 
hymn/ None had been spoken of, and I asked 
which. He replied, ' Just as I am.' A little 
after 9 o'clock he moaned, seemingly not intend- 
ing to speak audibly, ' Lord Jesus, don't cast me 
away. Such clouds and darkness on my mind.' 
' Has there been to-day V ' Yes, for two weeks.' 
' While you have been sick here V ' Yes.' l He 
says He is light. There is light there, though 
we do not see it.' 'True.' 'And Christian in his 
darkness felt a hand, though he saw none. The 
grace that availed for the heathen you preached to 
at Benita avails for you.' ' That is so, that is so/ 
' We sinners all need the same grace. " Him that 
cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." ' c In 
no wise, in no wise.' I prayed, then, arising, said, 
'He is a covenant -keeping God; he does not 
break covenants.' 'No.' After an interval he 
added, 'Lord, pity me, pity, pity, pity.' He lay 
quietly much of the former part of the night, but 
not asleep, for often I heard scarcely audible words 
of ejaculatory prayer, and expressions like, 'O 
Father, dear Saviour,' etc. Just at midnight, 
when he was lying so quietly that I thought him 
almost asleep, he said in a low voice, as if speaking 



GEORGE PATJLL. 285 

to himself, ' Jesus can make a dying bed feel soft 
as downy pillows are/ I carried it on, ' While 
on his breast I lean my head/ and he finished the 
fourth line, 'And breathe my life out sweetly there/ 

"At one time on Sabbath morning I thought 
death had come when he uttered, in a drawn out, 
slow manner, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!' 
Later still he spoke more distinctly, c Saviour, 
Saviour, give me more light, more trust in thee/ 
One of his last utterances before he died was, ( I 
wish to lay myself at the feet of Jesus, and to feel 
that Jesus is my all/ The loved friend felt Jesus 
with him before he actually was ushered into the 
enjoyment of the Sabbath above. I am sure that 
God lifted that painfully obscuring veil, and 
showed your son and brother his face while yet in 
the valley. He could not desert one who in every 
walk and conversation of life had honored him/' 

Thus the Christian missionary, whose heart God 
so strongly inclined to preach his precious gospel 
to the perishing heathen in Africa, has gone to rest 
in glory, honored and beloved by all who knew 
him. His body sleeps in the beautiful mission 
cemetery, at Corisco, awaiting the resurrection 
morn when them that sleep in Jesus shall God 
bring with him. Two oleanders, planted by lov- 



286 GEORGE PAULL. 

ing hands, one at the head and the other at the 
foot of his grave, now bloom monthly in fragrant 
beauty, emblematic of that immortal bloom which 
awaits the raised body in the celestial country. 
His spirit, so ardent in devotion here, I doubt not 
is among the most seraphic of the spirits of the 
just made perfect, now striking its golden harp in 
notes of praise to redeeming love. His bright 
moral image, now reflecting more perfectly the like- 
ness of his Saviour, still lives in the memory of those 
who knew him on earth, preaching most impres- 
sively the great duty of love and fidelity to Christ 
as the only true preparation for the crown of life. 

A marble monument marks his tomb, with the 
emblem of a cross and crown, and the inscription : 

Eev. GEORGE PAULL. 

Born Feb. 3, 1837. 
Died May 14, 1865. 

Also I heard the voice of the Lord saving, Whom shall 

I send and who will go for us? Then said he, 

Here am I, send me. — Isaiah vii. 8. 

Dr. Nassau, on visiting Benita, wrote, " My heart 
sank with heaviness for the breach that the Lord 
has made upon us. When the news of Mr. 
Paull's death reached Benita the people trembled 




GrRAYE OF Mr. PAULL. 



p. 286. 



GEORGE PAULL. 287 

—the native word means to be agitated exceed- 
ingly — and wailing was heard through all the 
towns as when a great man of their own tribe dies. 
I found that he had obtained a deep and firm hold 
on the people's affections. Those who were seek- 
ing Christ told me mournfully of their sorrow 
for their missionary's death, and wistfully asked 
whether another would come. I think I may 
count ten as hopefully Christians, and as many 
more as sincere inquirers, and others whose hea- 
thenish habits are modified and who respect the 
Sabbath and other institutions of religion." 

If the death of Mr. Paull brought sadness to the 
mission circle in Africa, and called forth the wail 
of the heathen in their towns, so did it bring sore 
grief to hearts in America. Yet the grief of those 
who loved him was tempered by the knowledge of 
his godly life and blessed estate, and by the warm 
words of those who knew him well. Letters of 
condolence from men eminent in the Church, reso- 
lutions of Presbytery, and the poetic tribute of 
affectionate admiration, bore witness to the regard 
in which he was held, but will not be needed by 
those who have read the record of his life. This 
plain record will enable them to form a just esti- 
mate of his character. 



288 GEORGE PAULL. 

I have permitted this noble young Christian 
missionary to entertain and instruct my readers by 
his letters, addressed in the usual freedom of cor- 
respondence to his relatives and intimate friends, 
and not designed by him for the public eye. Had 
they known him personally, they would not won- 
der that I should take the labor of transcribing 
them for their benefit. May God imbue them with 
a double portion of that Christian spirit which 
animated the heart of his missionary to Corisco ! 

To the young let me say, would you possess 
a lofty Christian record on earth and an unfading 
crown in heaven, commit your souls to God in 
early life with the earnest and daily prayer of the 
Apostle to the Gentiles, " Lord, what wilt thou have 
me to do ?" Bring your young hearts to Christ in 
loving faith and fervent devotion to his church. 
Cherish that true concern for the perishing heathen 
which made Mr. Paull so happy in preaching the 
gospel even in Africa. If you have his faith and 
zeal in the cause, though you be not called to 
labor and lay your bodies in Africa or India, you 
may nevertheless share in the glory to be revealed 
when " They that are wise shall shine as the bright- 
ness of the firmament, and they that turn many to 
righteousness as the stars for ever and ever." 



